Anything I want
Via one of these new kid Tory bloggers I find that despite Tony Martin's realisation his natural home is in the BNP, the Conservatives are still plugging the idea of a Tony Martin law.Today's turn is MP Roger Gale, who is trying to get a second reading for a bill that (or see here - pdf)
"introduced in response to not only high-profile cases but growing public concern over imbalance within the criminal law would, if enacted, give to householders (owners and tenants alike) the right to use "any act" if he or she believes that the action is "in self-defence, in defence of another person, to preserve or protect property, to apprehend an intruder or any other suspected wrongdoer or otherwise in the prevention of crime"."
Now perhaps I don't understand the specific legal terms. But let's take them at face value. The bill would give householders the right to use "any act" against another person "who is in the dwelling, or attempting to gain access to the dwelling (which includes gardens) " if he or she believes that that act is "to preserve or protect property".
Thus it means I could legitimately murder anyone in my house who had broken in or who was trying to, and -- this is the killer (perhaps literally) - I believed "whether reasonably or not" it was in self-defence, in defence of someone, or property etc.
Taken to the extreme, if my mother was in my garden, and I suddenly thought she was going to take an apple from the tree, then I could legally torture and kill her, whether or not she was.
And they call the Lib Dems loopy!
posted by Matthew @ 4/22/2004 04:25:00 PM
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