Women ‘must have right to use greater force against abusers’
Domestic violence victim who killed partner should be entitled to ‘Tony Martin defence’, say lawyers
‘We hope this appeal will open the door to legal reform and shine a light on the level of fear experienced by victims’
DOMESTIC violence victims should be covered by the so-called “Tony Martin defence” to use “disproportionate force” against abusive partners, the Court of Appeal will be told in a landmark legal application to be heard today.
Emma-jayne Magson was given a life sentence last March after twice being convicted of murdering her boyfriend, James Knight, following a night out in March 2016.
Magson, who was 23 at the time, killed Knight with a single stab wound to the heart. She alleged that he had been strangling her, so she used a steak knife to defend herself.
However, in a legal first, lawyers for Magson are to tell the Appeal Court judges that domestic violence victims should be able to use “disproportionate force” when defending themselves – an option only accorded to homeowners protecting themselves from a burglar.
Magson, who is being supported by the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), will rely on the defence which was introduced by Parliament in an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 after Tony Martin, a Norfolk farmer, shot dead a teenage burglar and was jailed for murder.
His offence was later reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and he was released in 2003 having served three years.
The incident provoked a fierce debate over homeowners’ right to defend themselves and their property. It led the Association of Chief Police Officers to issue new guidelines stating a householder could use “reasonable force” to protect themselves.
Now the Court of Appeal will hear, for the first time, that the same defence should be applied to domestic abuse.
Harriet Wistrich, director of the CWJ, said: “The householder defence was introduced in recognition of the heightened level of fear that might be experienced where a person is confronted by an intruder or trespasser in their home, resulting in disproportionate force.
“We have campaigned to extend this defence to circumstances where a victim of domestic violence responds disproportionately, often with a weapon, to defend herself from a man who has used violence towards her in the past.
“We hope this appeal will help open the door to further statutory reform in this area and shine a light on the level of fear experienced by such victims.”
The CWJ also supported Sally Challen, whose 2011 conviction for murdering her abusive husband, Richard, with a hammer was quashed in 2019 after her legal team showed her fragile mental health at the time after decades of coercive and controlling treatment.
Magson’s hearing comes after Dame Vera Baird QC, the victims’ commissioner, urged Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, to extend the burglary defence to domestic abuse.
Magson had appealed against her conviction in 2016, but a retrial jury three years later did not accept her version and she was given the same 17-year minimum term. However, the judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, said what happened on the night remained unclear.
Magson stabbed Mr Knight at her Leicester home on Mar 27 2016 after both had been drinking and Mr Knight had also taken cocaine.