Husband who killed burglar broke no law (D. Telegraph, 7.12.2002)

Husband who killed burglar broke no law By Nicola Woolcock (Filed: 07/12/2002)

A man broke no law when he killed a burglar who held a knife to his wife's throat as she watched television, an inquest jury decided yesterday.

Darren Taylor, 30, was high on drugs and alcohol when he ran into the couple's bungalow, in Spalding, Lincs, in February with his 35-year-old accomplice, Ian Reed. The masked pair threatened John and Carol Lambert with a knife, demanding £5,000. A struggle broke out in which Taylor was fatally stabbed.

The hearing at Spalding magistrates' court heard that Taylor had grabbed Mrs Lambert's hair and held a knife to her throat, before dragging her into a bedroom.

But Mr Lambert grabbed Reed's knife and ran into the street. Taylor, of Market Deeping, Lincs, followed him and in a fight he was stabbed seven times and had the knife embedded in his chest.

The jury took 30 minutes to find that Mr Lambert, 58, had acted in self-defence. It returned a verdict of lawful killing.

Reed, of Deeping St James, Lincs, who was injured, was jailed for eight years for robbery at Lincoln Crown Court in June.

What's obscene is that he had to stand trial at all. He's probably spent the best part of a year on remand, lost his job etc, etc...

The police ALWAYS take the view that incidents like these have to go to court even where the overwhelming evidence is there is no case to answer. In other cases where people are murdered (such as the person who has been openly accused of the murder of Suzy Lamplugh) both the police and the CPS sit on their hands.

The police seem to want to create a culture where people are as fearful of lawfully defending themselves as they are of violent criminals.

Regards

Kit Lewis