What are your rights as a homeowner?

IF someone breaks in to your house, the law does not require you to wait to be attacked before you defend yourself so long as you use “reasonable force”.

As a general rule, the more extreme the circumstances or the greater the fear you feel, the more likely you are to have been seen to have acted reasonably.

If you are chasing someone off your property, you are allowed to use reasonable force to recover property and make a citizen’s arrest but the amount of violence seen as acceptable is a lot less than if you confront someone inside the home.

If an intruder dies after breaking in to your home, the Crown Prosecution says you will not be prosecuted “if you have acted in reasonable self-defence”.

But use of “disproportionate force” could see you facing charges.