SportsCoupeRich said:
lots of valid points above - just to add my two cents. Be very careful about the tony martin example - i studied Law and read the case as many law students did, i also studied it in UEA norwich so got lots and lots of additional press and interesting insights on the case. The guy has been made into a martyr by the press but he was a horrible nasty person. He talked repeatedly about shooting people at local parish meetings and shot two people who were fleeing from his property. The wounds were all to the back. He also had a history of threatening other villagers who weren't tyring to steal from him. People I met suggested he was a local bogeyman of sorts. We played rugby against his village side quite often,6 times over the 3 years in fact, and it seemed fairly well recieved that he was in jail.
Another example of the media destroying the criminal justice system...
Not sure why I needed to be
careful, but I'm more than willing to concede that I could've used a less controversial example to make my point. My statement was simply:
"
Tony Martin was allegedly in fear of his own safety (in his own home...) and look what happened to him. An extreme example I know, but still relevant..."
There are so many perspectives and theories surrounding the Tony Martin case but only those present know
precisely what happened that night, at least beyond the documented evidence which is widely available to anyone who is interested. Anything else is speculation, hearsay and rumour, I'm afraid - including any claims as to how nasty he allegedly was, no matter what a few locals might've said. If you read the case as it was presented by the court service website, it's clear that Tony Martin had complained to the police many times about intruders and thefts from his property, so he clearly felt vulnerable. Furthermore, his idiosyncracies and eccentricities undoubtedly did him more harm than good - if he'd been a presentable family man the whole case would've probably gone in an entirely different direction.
Still.....at the end of the day he was convicted based on the evidence available and that was the end of the matter. However the case highlighted the ambiguity in the law when it comes to property owners and their rights to protect both themselves and their belongings. Given that the Tony Martin case attracted more attention than almost any other similar case in living memory, I think it's inevitably going to serve as a reference point for those involved in discussion such as these.
However in my defence, I did say that it was an extreme example
Another example of the media destroying the criminal justice system...
I'm not sure I understand. Is the criminal justice system not already a fundamentally flawed machine clogged with archaic principle, ambiguity and prejudice? If it not a self-destructive entity? Why are the media to blame?
. He will get his cummuppence in time
