Re Tony Martin
Hi LB,
It's beautiful sunny/cool/breezy morning here on the West Coast of Scotland. Just back walking the dog, and buying the Sunday papers. I didn't buy the Telegraph this morning as the ST magazines were all missing. No TV times either.
So it's the Sunday Times today. Just been reading the section on the Martin case. Excuse my mirth (I'm a supporter of legal gun ownership) but the USA pro-gun lobby are actively following the case, and causing considerable embarrassment to the Authorities. The UK police are generally competent, they have done a great job in my neck of the woods, and I expect they can handle Fearon and his dumb pals. I think they just have to mention the international interest in the case to make their point clear.
The Martin case has been badly mishandled by the courts (in my non legal opinion). It's my expectation the matter will be addressed when Fearon sues. He will lose his case, and shown as an example where crime does not pay. If he wins, forget law and order.
Re guns etc. I discuss these kinds of matters with USA people who are now settled here, quite often with an opposite view to mine on gun ownership. I believe in tolerance to other people, their individual freedoms and rights. The simple question is... Has gun crime and gun deaths decreased or increased since the blanket banning? Not interesting in political baloney statements like "victims have rights" etc. We all know that.
I'm for generally improving things not making them worse. For example, if the UK put a loaded gun into glove compartment of every new vehicle put on the road, would the summed deaths from [car accidents plus gun deaths] go up or down? It's my suspicion that, sure yes there would be a messy big spike at first, but the overall effect over a period of time would that the overall death rate would go down. It would be nice to drive on the roads with considerate drivers again. An interesting debate subject. I am familiar with the general driving habits of UK residents, and those in several states in the USA. OK, a tad controversial subject as well, maybe not for this thread, where not all arguments are balanced with appropriate emotional control -ggg-
OK, Tony Marin update by the Times...
Probe as burglar is freed before Martin
Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Steven Shukor
timesonline.co.uk
THE head of the prison service was yesterday ordered to explain to David Blunkett, the home secretary, why a burglar shot by the Norfolk farmer Tony Martin was released early from prison.
Phil Wheatley, the prisons chief, was asked to file a report on the reasons for freeing Brendan Fearon, 33, just three days ahead of Martin’s due release date tomorrow.
Last night, Martin, in his first public words on the subject, expressed his anger that Fearon had been freed early. “The release of Fearon is an insult to decent people,” he said through a friend.
Last week, Martin’s supporters called the treatment of the 58-year-old farmer “atrocious”. The demand for the report was made after allegations that the Home Office decision had been motivated by resentment towards Martin.
Henry Bellingham, the farmer’s MP, said: “I believe there are people in the Home Office and the prison service who want to put the boot in to Tony Martin. That’s what Tony Martin feels as well.”
Martin was convicted in April 2000 after he shot dead 16-year-old Fred Barras, who had broken into his Norfolk farmhouse with Fearon. He also shot Fearon in the leg. Fearon, who has a long criminal record, was released last Friday after serving less than a third of an 18-month prison sentence for heroin dealing. By contrast, Martin, whose murder conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal, has been forced to serve two-thirds of his five-year sentence.
The Home Office said yesterday that it believed the release of Fearon just days before Martin had been a “coincidence”. Paul Goggins, a Home Office minister, said he did not believe the prison service had acted improperly but he had asked for a report to be delivered to the home secretary tomorrow because of the “high profile” of the case.
Martin, prisoner BH9000, will be released tomorrow after being moved last week from Highpoint, a category C prison in Suffolk, to an undisclosed location. He will also be given a form to sign before his release declaring that he is not allowed to own a gun.
He has claimed to friends that he has just one wish: to return to obscurity and solitude. It is unlikely to be granted. Security lights have already been installed at Bleak House, his home, a book deal has been brokered and police have been told of at least one death threat made against him in recent weeks.
“The police will be watching him like a hawk because nobody wants anything to happen to him,” said Peter Sainsbury of the POW Trust, a London-based charity supporting Martin. “He is, however, a typical farmer and wants to return to his normal life as fast as possible.”
Last January, Martin was refused parole because the parole board did not believe he had accepted that his crime was wrong. Probation officers concluded that he remained a danger to the public.
Martin said last year that he was looking forward to being back in the orchards of Bleak House: “I just long to be free and do simple things like going to bed when I want to. I long to be out in the fresh air and prune my apple trees.”
In prison, Martin became a keen letter writer and an able student. He devoured books on his heroes, including Nelson, Churchill and Oliver Cromwell.
Friends speak of an engaging, intelligent and quietly determined character. Neighbours, however, recall an eccentric figure in his dust-filled house that had become entwined in plants.
Whatever his character, Martin faces an uncertain, dangerous future. The biggest concern for his supporters is the threat of recriminations from criminal elements linked to Barras.
Jean Wallis, 71, who raises funds for Martin’s legal costs, said: “I was handing out leaflets in Wisbech (in Cambridgeshire) which said, ‘Do you support Tony Martin?’. This man came up to me and said, ‘Fred Barras was my cousin.’
“He told me, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’ He took one of my leaflets and tore it up. He said, ‘If I see Tony Martin, I will kill him’.”
Wallis gave a statement to police and was asked to identify the man from photographs.
Malcolm Starr, the friend through whom Martin spoke, said: “He knows that if someone is persistent enough then he could be bumped off. He has got the strength of character just to get on with his life.”
Martin’s supporters feel it unlikely that there is a credible threat against his life. Police are, however, providing protection for him that will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
A mobile police station has already been put outside his home in addition to the lights.
The most immediate challenge for Martin will be coping with publicity surrounding his release. While in prison he received hundreds of letters a week and film crews from around the world have requested interviews.
He is understood to be considering a number of newspaper offers. He kept a diary while in prison and is to write a book which will be edited by John McVicar, the writer and former convict. The working title is My Right to Kill.
Martin has also become a cause célèbre for the gun lobby. Funds are being raised for him using a badge with an insignia of two crossed guns and the words “Tony Martin’s security services”. He has received several hundred e-mails and letters from American supporters.
The publicity surrounding Martin has upset the family of Barras, who live in Newark, Nottinghamshire. Last week they described his decision to write a book as “sick”. However, it was denied that any member of the Barras family wanted to harm Martin.
Once the publicity surrounding his release has faded, Martin will soon have to return to court. Fearon is suing him for damages and the distress caused by the shooting. |
