A panel of senior Judges in the Divisional Court has recently told us what most sane, right-thinking, God-fearing and reasonable people knew all along. If you wake up and find a stranger in your house, stealing your prized possessions or about to harm one of your loved ones you can use force – any type of force more or less – to defend your household. It’s ok to bash a burglar! In the case in question, the householder had held the burglar in a head-lock until he became unconscious. He later fell into a coma. The burglar’s family launched a legal challenge against the homeowner – yes you heard it right the first time! That’s human rights for you. The important point is that the Judges, in a rare outbreak of reality, confirmed what we knew any way. It’s ok to bash a burglar! Also it is just not realistic to expect someone who is faced with this terrible situation to be concerned about weighing up legal niceties such as ‘reasonableness force’ and ‘proportionate force’. What a sad indictment of our human rights-mad, politically-correct, mind-your-p’s-and q’s-culture, that the brave householder had to defend himself in his home and then defend himself in court. The court was careful to warn that its ruling should not signal a free for all. Using force which was ‘grossly disproportionate’ is still unlawful.
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