Law that says homeowners can use lethal force to defend themselves

THE law says a householder in England and Wales can use ‘disproportionate force’ to challenge an intruder in their home – which could include the use of lethal force. Only force which is ‘grossly’ disproportionate is illegal.

Ministers toughened up controversial ‘bash a burglar’ laws in April 2013 to dispel doubts over the right to fight back.

The measures sought to remove the threat of a burglary victim being arrested – let alone charged – if they used violence to drive an intruder away or stop them advancing through their home.

Before then, householders were entitled to use only ‘reasonable’ force.

The change satisfied the demands of campaigners after Norfolk farmer Tony Martin was jailed for shooting dead a burglar in 1999. Calls for action gathered momentum after the murder of financier John Monckton, who died from stab wounds in his Chelsea home in 2004.

Now someone who is confronted by a burglar and has reason to fear for their safety and in the heat of the moment uses force that later seems ‘disproportionate’ will not be guilty of an offence.

Guidance issued by the Crown Prosecution Service states: ‘If householders have acted honestly and instinctively and in the heat of the moment, that this will be the strongest evidence for them having acted lawfully and in self-defence.’

Householders can use disproportionate force if they are defending themselves or others; if the intruder is in their home or ‘partly in the building’, for instance on the doorstep or climbing through the window; and they genuinely believe the person is a trespasser.

The guidance also covers those who live at their place of work, for instance shopkeepers who live above the store.

But householders cannot rely on the heightened defence if the confrontation occurred wholly outside the building, for example in the garden.