Clarke: Homeowners 'Can Stab Burglars'

[oldironside]

"The Justice Secretary has said householders will be able to stab burglars without fear of prosecution under new legislation guaranteeing their right to defend themselves.

Ken Clarke was speaking ahead of the Justice Bill being debated in the Commons today.

"If an old lady finds she's got an 18-year-old burgling her house and she picks up a kitchen knife and sticks it in him, she has not committed a criminal offence, and we will make that clear.""

The way Clarke phrases it reminds me irresistably of this.

http://youtu.be/CStfT8gCrjM

[non sociopath skin]

1. Ah, the Big Society. Replacing rozzers with old ladies with kitchen knives.

You KNOW it makes sense ...

:silly: :silly: :silly:

The Skin

[oldironside]

3. What's next?

Replacing the army with a hoard of heavily armed drug dealers? Sorry, I meant to type "well regulated militia".

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Which he'd presumably also apply to an old homeless woman who broke into a house to steal food

from a six foot six drug 20 year old drug dealer. He'd have the right to stab her. Even if she's no danger to him whatsoever - because there's nothing in his example about personal danger, just burglary. Clarke is 'clear' that it's not a criminal offence. Looks like you will lose the right to life if you break into a house, if the Tories get their way.

But, hang on - it turns out Clarke himself admits it's not 'clear':

Mr Clarke said legal protection would not extend to anyone shooting a burglar in the back when they were fleeing or "getting their friends together to beat them up".

"We all know what we mean when we say a person has an absolute right to defend themselves and their home and reasonable force.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-politics-13957587

No, Clarke, you idiot, we don't 'all know' - because you've now made it unclear what you want to happen if the resident stabs someone who is fleeing. Is it the shooting that's wrong, or that they're fleeing? For a trained lawyer, he's particularly incompetent at being clear when talking about legal matters. 'Reasonable force' to defend property is very much a matter of opinion - some people may think stabbing someone making off with their laptop is perfectly reasonable; others may think monetary loss doesn't justify a life-threatening injury.