Tony Martin, a farmer who shot 16-year-old Fred Barras in 1999 has said that he would do it again if the same thing happened.
The farmer from Norfolk, United Kingdom killed the young intruder and injured his accomplice Brendon Fearon with an unlicensed gun. He was sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter.
But the case started a long debate across the country as to how far one should be allowed to go when it comes to defending their home.
Now 74, the farmer has said he would do the same thing should a similar circumstance present itself.
When asked by the Daily Mail if he regretted what happened, Martin answered: “I’ve been called a ‘kiddy killer’. I did nothing wrong. I did what anyone would do.”
“If the circumstances were the same, yes. Anyone would,” he added.
Martin has also revealed that he has visited the teen’s grave. “I was up in Newark at the Midlands Show and there is a huge cemetery there. Well, Mr Barras is there, buried up the far end. It’s quite hard to find.
“There was a man there and I asked where I’d find him [Barras] and he showed me. And there he was. Then he left me there.
“I stood for a minute or so, just looked at the headstone. There was a picture of him on it – the same one I’d seen in the papers.
“I didn’t feel anything. I just stood there, totally removed from what I was looking at. I did think about how everything is of our own making, though. And that applies to him.”
As to why he decided to visit the intruder, he said: “It wasn’t respect, no. It was curiosity.”
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