Just read the answers on the question: when attacked is it safer to just defend yourself or kill the attacker?

Question

The majority of answers went with killing the assailant, for various reasons, but in my local paper this morning I read a case of someone being attacked by someone else and he was fined £700 for `over-reacting` and injuring the attacker!!
Was that right?

I recall a similar incident in the USA and the answer was: "If you only wound the intruder he`ll return and get his own back. If you kill him, he would be unable to do that."
In the latter case there is only your word for what happened and no one to refute it. Sounds good to me....

Answer 1

The law in US and UK are totally different on this subject. If you are in the UK, you can only use the equivalent force of the attacker. So, in other words, if you are being attacked, and only being punched, you can use the same force to get away or defend yourself. Anything else, such as using a weapon, even a piece of wood, for example, would be considered excessive, and you could end up being the one who is in trouble. Unfortunately, there has also been a case where an intruded broke into someone's house, with the intent to rob them. He injured himself on a faulty stair, and was granted a monetary award after suing his victim, because the home owner has a duty of care to anyone who is in their home, whether they are there legally or illegally it would seem. Unfortunately, the law can be on the side of the criminal at times,and I find this happens quite a bit in the UK.

Answer 2

The guy who said that the law protects the assailant more than the victim is partly correct...just in an indeirect sort of way. If someone attacks you, and you just sit there and do nothing and then you report it, the police finds the attacker and then arrests them, then, you are in the right and have nothing to worry about.
HOWEVER, the common person is going to want to defend themself because they might not make it out alive to tell the police OR, the police might not find the assailant OR, the assailant may just get a slap on the wrist. Of course at the time of the attack, you are not just sitting there weighing these odds -you just react. Well, the law dosent want you to do that, or if you do, just return whatever force that you are being attacked with. C'mon, who thinks about that? They want you to have faith in the system, even if it means your death. Now, if you do bodily harm (in what they perceive as an excessive manner), and they do catch this assailant, he may double back on you for civil charges. Not too common, but it does happen.

But me?, I'm protecting myself by any means necessary...let the chips fall where they may

Answer 3

There is a lot of crap talked about the right to self defence in English Law, but it's quite simple. You have the right to use reasonable force to defend yourself or protect person or property. It's up to a court to decide what is reasonable force.

If your self defence results in someone being killed, don't you think it is only right and proper that there should be some investigation into a death. And if it was self defence the person should be publicly exonerated.

There are cases of successful prosecutions against victims of crime, but they invariably involve someone using excessive force. These are usually cases where a thief is shot in the back running away, or when someone chases after a criminal and gives them a good beating. Deserved or not, it is the law's job to punish criminals,not the victims. Self defence means just that, and not revenge attacks.

Answer 4

I knew someone who did a very long stretch in gaol for hurting someone in the course of defending himself. It can be a very dangerous thing to do if you happen to be a big, strong person. However, there was enormous public sympathy for that farmer, Tony Martin, a few years back who shot and killed a burglar and that seems to have influenced a subsequent decision http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/3954033.stm.
Perhaps the fact that the man concerned was aged 73 had something to do with it. At that age, you do what you can to defend yourself.

Answer 5

short answer no . When i was 18 was attacked in the street, i fought back and put him down, left it at that. he got back up and attacked me from behind and i woke up in hospital. My attacker was never prosecuted but 30 years later he still can't walk right. I did nothing to provoke this attack was just on a night out.

Answer 6

Caicos turkey
Tony martin shot a 16-year-old boy and killed him — shot him in the back at the range of about 4ft. He had a gun under his bed which he should not have had. His gun licence was taken away in 1994 because the police knew he had been using the gun inappropriately several times.”
They decided his actions went beyond appropriate self-defence: he waited with a loaded unlicensed shotgun in his remote darkened farmhouse and fired into the back of Fred Barras, the 16-year-old, which suggests he was running away.
If he was running away this cannot be considered self defences

Answer 7

Everybody in the UK has the right to defend themselves from attack. The key as always is that you use reasonable force only. Whether your actions were reasonable in the circumstances would be for a magistrate / jury to decide.

Answer 8

Laws about self-defense vary from place to place. When in doubt respond with a similar level of force. If someone is trying to beat you up, and you kill them is some places that would be considered an unreasonable level of force.

If someone is trying to kill you, or seriously injure you, killing them in response is much less likely to be seen as an unreasonable level of force.

Check your local laws and legal precedents if this issue has you concerned.

Answer 9

thats the problem with the law. All the rights are with the attacker if you try to defend yourself or your property. Which doesn't really send the right message out.

Answer 10

It's a well known fact that in the U.K., you must allow yourself to be beaten to a pulp, if necessary in order to avoid prosecution for G.B.H or A.B.H. The perpetrater will be given Community Service because he came from a broken home,