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Farmer from Norfolk, England, who shot an intruder dead

On 20 August 1999, Tony Martin, a 54 year old bachelor, was living alone at his farmhouse, Bleak House, in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk. He claimed that he had been burgled a total of ten times, losing £6,000 worth of furniture, though police stated they were unsure if all of the incidents occurred. Martin also complained about police inaction over the burglaries and claimed that multiple items and furniture were stolen, including dinnerware and a grandfather clock. shotgun which he claimed to have found. Changes in legislation in 1988, resulting from the Hungerford massacre, had changed the licensing treatment of semiautomatic and pump action shotguns with a magazine capacity of more than two to equate to that of a firearm, requiring a valid firearms certificate. Martin had his shotgun certificate revoked in 1994 after he found a man stealing apples in his orchard and shot a hole in the back of his vehicle. On the evening of 20 August 1999, two burglars – 29 year old Brendon Fearon and 16 year old Fred Barras, both from Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire – broke into Martin's house. Shooting downwards in the dark with his shotgun loaded with birdshot, Martin shot three times towards the intruders (once when they were in the stairwell and twice more when they were trying to flee through the window of an adjacent ground floor room). Barras was hit in the back and both sustained gunshot injuries to their legs. Both escaped through the window, but Barras died at the scene. On 10 January 2000, Fearon and 33 year old Darren Bark (who had acted as the getaway driver), also from Newark on Trent, admitted to conspiring to burgle Martin's farmhouse. Fearon was sentenced to three years in prison, and Bark to two and a half years He had been sentenced to two months in a young offenders' institution for assaulting a police officer, theft and being drunk and disorderly. On the night he was killed, Barras had just been released on bail after being accused of stealing garden furniture. His grandmother, Mary Dolan, stated: "It's not fair that the farmer has got all the money and he is the one that took Fred away."

On 23 August 1999, Martin was charged with the murder of Barras, the attempted murder of Fearon, "wounding with intent to cause injury" to Fearon and "possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life". The jury at the trial were told that they had the option of returning a verdict of manslaughter rather than murder, if they thought that Martin "did not intend to kill or cause serious bodily harm". However, the jurors found Martin guilty of murder by a 10 to 2 majority. Martin was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommended minimum term to serve of nine years, soon afterwards reduced to eight years by the Lord Chief Justice.

An appeal by Martin against his convictions and sentence was first considered in October 2001 by three senior judges headed by Lord Woolf LCJ. Submissions by the defence that Martin had fired in his own defence were rejected by the appeal court. On this occasion, the defence also submitted evidence that Martin was diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder exacerbated by depression and that his paranoia was specifically directed at anyone intruding into his home; he was also diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. This submission was accepted by the Court of Appeal and, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, Martin's murder conviction was replaced by manslaughter carrying a five year sentence, and his ten year sentence for wounding Fearon was reduced to three years. These sentences were to run concurrently.

Martin was imprisoned at Highpoint Prison at Stradishall in Suffolk following his conviction. When he became eligible for parole and early release in January 2003, the parole board rejected his application without stating a reason. In an interview with The Times, parole board chairman Sir David Hatch described Martin as "a very dangerous man" who might still believe his action had been right. Martin challenged the decision in the High Court, where the parole board's decision was upheld. Probation officers on Martin's cases said there was an "unacceptable risk" that Martin might again react with excessive force if other would be burglars intruded on his Norfolk farm. On 28 July 2003, Martin was released after serving three years of his five year sentence, However, the case was thrown into doubt when photographs were published in The Sun, showing him "cycling and climbing with little apparent difficulty" suggesting that Fearon's injuries were not as serious as had been claimed. While the case was pending, Fearon was recalled to jail after being charged with the theft of a vehicle while on probation following a conviction for dealing heroin. Fearon later dropped the case when Martin agreed to drop a counterclaim. Nick Makin, Martin's solicitor, said: "It is appalling that the family of someone who has a criminal record for burglary and assault should attempt to claim any damages of criminal injury when he was shot while burgling the dwelling of an innocent person It is also appalling that they may get legal aid while his victim is in prison and patently unable to work and equally cannot get legal aid There is something wrong and perverse with our legal system that it permits this." In October 2003, the Daily Mirror paid Martin £125,000 for an exclusive interview on his release from prison. After investigation, the Press Complaints Commission ruled that the payment was justified and in the public interest because Martin "had a unique insight into an issue of great public concern". Following his release, Martin went on to appear on the platform of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and was the guest of honour at the Traditional Britain Group's Annual Dinner at Simpson's in the Strand in London on 7 November 2003. Martin said himself that he had attended meetings of the National Front in Norfolk, and later went on to endorse the British National Party. One of Martin's uncles by marriage, Andrew Fountaine, was a founding member of the National Front.

Martin, T. (with John McVicar – editor) (2004), A Right to Kill? : Tony Martin's Story, Artnik, , Saunders, J. (2001), Tony Martin and the Bleak House Tragedy, True Crime Library/Forum Press, , Turney, B. (2005), Wanted, Waterside Press, , The Interrogation of Tony Martin TV movie based partly on transcripts of police interviews of Martin. Directed by Dave Nath. Martin played by Steve Pemberton. Shown on UK November 2018