Metropol

Yeah, my view on it has shifted over the years:

Was shooting Fred Barras justified? I wasn’t there, but probably not.

Was Fred Barras responsible for his own death? He was 16. My eldest child is 16, it seems likely that he would have lacked the maturity and insight to really rationalise what he was doing - my child who is pretty sharp, is still naive - it would have all been a big laugh to him. He was almost certainly tagging along with and influenced by much old Brendan Fearon, who definitely should have known better.

To my mind, Fearon shares a degree of culpability for his friend’s death - arguably Marin and Fearon are equally culpable. Fearon should not have broken into another person’s home with a 16 year old child in tow.

But by doing this, he effectively put their lives in somebody else’s hands. They put themselves in a situation where they could meet very real harm, and unfortunately they did, and several people’s lives were ruined by the sequence of events that followed.

So, whilst I have a hard time justifying Tony Martin killing 16 year old Barras, it’s true he wouldn’t have died had he not been there. And let’s not forget, somebody breaking into your house, in the dead of night must have been genuinely terrifying.

Dr Lobster* wrote: Thu 06 Feb, 2025 19.36 So, whilst I have a hard time justifying Tony Martin killing 16 year old Barras, it’s true he wouldn’t have died had he not been there. And let’s not forget, somebody breaking into your house, in the dead of night must have been genuinely terrifying.

I agree with the last part, it probably was terrifying - though everyone's perception is different it is an accepted standard in law that a person can't weigh to a nicety the exact measure of force required to achieve their legitimate aim, or in plain English, they may not know exactly what is a proportionate amount of force in the heat of the moment.

I can see justification in some of his actions, but for me the fact that he claimed he had been burgled a lot but hadn't reported a single one of them to the police, he was disqualified from possessing a shotgun certificate/FAC due to the earlier incident of shooting at someone who was stealing apples, the shotgun used had been modified, illegally and he possessed it illegally, there were contemporary reports that he had expressed desires to kill people for perceived transgressions, and he travelled towards the threat, without calling out or a verbal warning and shot them in the back as they fled.

That being said I do think the burglars learned a lesson in the arena of fuck about, find out, or silly games, silly prizes - not saying anyone deserved to die, but you're quite right, they made that decision and it did lead to his death. Barras' involvements with the CJS started when he was 10, and his first conviction was when he was 12, even the photos circulated to the media were custody photos - but then what chance did he have? He was hanging around with freaks twice his age going on burgling trips and his dad was constantly in and out of prison.

Given the state of Martin's living conditions though, and the exterior appearance of the house, I wouldn't be surprised if they went there expecting it to be abandoned to either strip the cable or steal some forgotten about plant and came a cropper.