Glenn E. Meyer
New member
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,212021,00.html
4.15pm update
Farmer jailed for life for
murder of teenage
intruder
Profile: the gypsy-hating loner who shot to
kill
Ros Taylor
Wednesday April 19, 2000
Farmer Tony Martin has been jailed for life at
Norwich crown court after being found guilty of
murdering a 16-year-old burglar who broke into his
Norfolk farm house.
Martin, 55, was also found guilty of wounding
another intruder, 30-year-old Brendan Fearon, with
intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Both were
majority verdicts of 10-2. Earlier, the jury had
cleared Martin of attempting to murder Mr Fearon
and of possessing a weapon with intent to endanger
life.
Fred Barras, who died almost immediately of
shotgun wounds, and Fearon had broken into
Martin's isolated farm near Emneth in Norfolk, on
August 20 1999, intending to steal antiques they
believed to be inside.
Fearon was seriously wounded in the upper thighs,
but managed to escape and reach a neighbouring
farmhouse to call for help. The two intruders had a
total of 114 burglary convictions between them.
There was a loud cry of "yes" as the verdicts were
read out in the crowded courtroom. The jury of six
men and six women took nine hours and 36 minutes
to return the guilty verdicts. As well as the life
sentence for murder, the judge, Mr Justice Owen,
told Martin he must serve 10 years for the wounding
offence and 12 months for the possession of an
illegal firearm. All the sentences will run
concurrently.
The bachelor farmer, who admitted possessing a
shotgun without a certificate, opened fire after
confronting Barras and Fearon, both of Newark,
Nottinghamshire, on his property. He was arrested at
a hotel in Wisbech the next morning. Bleak House,
the farm inhabited by Martin, was "booby-trapped"
and had a home-made security system, the court
heard.
Rosamund Horwood-Smart QC, prosecuting, said
Martin had rigged up his own electricity system and
lived in near darkness. She said he had also taken
security measures and created a "booby-trap" on his
staircase by removing the top and bottom steps.
"He also installed iron bars inside his doors and
windows on the ground floor," she said. "He would
also sleep entirely clothed wearing his boots in
contemplation of something happening."
The roofs of outbuildings had ladders on them and
Martin had set up a "lookout post" in a tree which
had four long ladders lashed to its branches.
Martin denied that he had booby-trapped the
house. He said the stairs were in a state of disrepair
and that he used the ladders for trimming his oak
tree and cleaning a chimney.
3.30pm
A gypsy-hating loner who
shot to kill
Tony Martin, the man found guilty of the
murder of a teenage boy who broke into
his farm, is a volatile character who has
shown no remorse for his victim, writes
Audrey Gillan
Farmer jailed for life for murder of teenage
intruder
Wednesday April 19, 2000
Eccentric, outspoken, loony, highly-strung, a pain in
the arse: all words used by friends and neighbours
to describe Tony Martin, the farmer convicted today
of the murder of a 16-year-old boy who broke in to
his isolated farmhouse one night last August.
Many locals in the villages near Emneth in Norfolk
believed the farmer to be harmless. But others - who
had heard him espouse his hatred for burglars and
what he would do if he caught them - had taken to
giving Martin a wide berth.
Aside from thieves, Martin's pet hate was gypsies.
Norwich crown court heard that he had talked of
putting gypsies in the middle of a field and
machine gunning them. Fred Barras, the boy he
killed, was both a gypsy and a thief.
Martin lived alone in the appropriately named
Bleak House. Run-down and dilapidated, the house
had to be cleared of rubble and booby traps to
make it safe for the jury to visit.
Upstairs, antiques were locked away in two rooms
while their owner slept, fully-clothed, in another,
with his pump-action shotgun by his bedside.
Waiting.
Born into a farming family in 1944 in the
Cambridgeshire village of Wisbech, Martin was a
loner from an early age.
At 35 he inherited Bleak House from relatives.
During his time there, he became convinced that
the house was a target for burglars. He told the court
that, over the years, various items had been stolen
and that he had become frustrated by police
"inaction". Privately, police sources say they are not
sure the burglaries took place.
He was involved in a number of incidents with guns.
In June 1976, the farmer is alleged to have gone to
a friend's house brandishing a revolver. In
December 1987 he had an argument at his brother's
house and is said to have used a shotgun to smash
windows. In 1994 he had his shotgun certificate
revoked after he found a man scrumping for apples
in his orchard and shot a hole in the back of his
vehicle.
Emneth has policing difficulties because of its rural
location on the borders of Norfolk and
Cambridgeshire: making it a target for the travelling
criminal.
Farms around Norfolk have long attracted travelling
people, who come to pick the fruits of the season.
To Martin, they were all "light-fingered pykies" and
"bastards". Martin is not alone in his views. Speak to
some locals and there seems to be a deep-seated
hatred for the travelling community.
After the incident last August, more than 300 locals
crammed in to Emneth village hall to complain to
police about response times. The feeling that a
man should be allowed to protect himself in his own
home reverberated around the country and the
farmer received hundreds of supportive letters.
There was no sympathy for the dead Barras. And
from Martin there has been no remorse. In an
interview with the BBC, he said: "We are supposed
to live in a civilised society. It's not the way I have
been treated. People are not aware of what it's like
in the countryside. Criminals prevail. It can't be
right." He never mentioned Fred Barras once.
• The above is an excerpt from a fuller article by
Audrey Gillan which will appear in tomorrow's
Guardian newspaper.
4.15pm update
Farmer jailed for life for
murder of teenage
intruder
Profile: the gypsy-hating loner who shot to
kill
Ros Taylor
Wednesday April 19, 2000
Farmer Tony Martin has been jailed for life at
Norwich crown court after being found guilty of
murdering a 16-year-old burglar who broke into his
Norfolk farm house.
Martin, 55, was also found guilty of wounding
another intruder, 30-year-old Brendan Fearon, with
intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Both were
majority verdicts of 10-2. Earlier, the jury had
cleared Martin of attempting to murder Mr Fearon
and of possessing a weapon with intent to endanger
life.
Fred Barras, who died almost immediately of
shotgun wounds, and Fearon had broken into
Martin's isolated farm near Emneth in Norfolk, on
August 20 1999, intending to steal antiques they
believed to be inside.
Fearon was seriously wounded in the upper thighs,
but managed to escape and reach a neighbouring
farmhouse to call for help. The two intruders had a
total of 114 burglary convictions between them.
There was a loud cry of "yes" as the verdicts were
read out in the crowded courtroom. The jury of six
men and six women took nine hours and 36 minutes
to return the guilty verdicts. As well as the life
sentence for murder, the judge, Mr Justice Owen,
told Martin he must serve 10 years for the wounding
offence and 12 months for the possession of an
illegal firearm. All the sentences will run
concurrently.
The bachelor farmer, who admitted possessing a
shotgun without a certificate, opened fire after
confronting Barras and Fearon, both of Newark,
Nottinghamshire, on his property. He was arrested at
a hotel in Wisbech the next morning. Bleak House,
the farm inhabited by Martin, was "booby-trapped"
and had a home-made security system, the court
heard.
Rosamund Horwood-Smart QC, prosecuting, said
Martin had rigged up his own electricity system and
lived in near darkness. She said he had also taken
security measures and created a "booby-trap" on his
staircase by removing the top and bottom steps.
"He also installed iron bars inside his doors and
windows on the ground floor," she said. "He would
also sleep entirely clothed wearing his boots in
contemplation of something happening."
The roofs of outbuildings had ladders on them and
Martin had set up a "lookout post" in a tree which
had four long ladders lashed to its branches.
Martin denied that he had booby-trapped the
house. He said the stairs were in a state of disrepair
and that he used the ladders for trimming his oak
tree and cleaning a chimney.
3.30pm
A gypsy-hating loner who
shot to kill
Tony Martin, the man found guilty of the
murder of a teenage boy who broke into
his farm, is a volatile character who has
shown no remorse for his victim, writes
Audrey Gillan
Farmer jailed for life for murder of teenage
intruder
Wednesday April 19, 2000
Eccentric, outspoken, loony, highly-strung, a pain in
the arse: all words used by friends and neighbours
to describe Tony Martin, the farmer convicted today
of the murder of a 16-year-old boy who broke in to
his isolated farmhouse one night last August.
Many locals in the villages near Emneth in Norfolk
believed the farmer to be harmless. But others - who
had heard him espouse his hatred for burglars and
what he would do if he caught them - had taken to
giving Martin a wide berth.
Aside from thieves, Martin's pet hate was gypsies.
Norwich crown court heard that he had talked of
putting gypsies in the middle of a field and
machine gunning them. Fred Barras, the boy he
killed, was both a gypsy and a thief.
Martin lived alone in the appropriately named
Bleak House. Run-down and dilapidated, the house
had to be cleared of rubble and booby traps to
make it safe for the jury to visit.
Upstairs, antiques were locked away in two rooms
while their owner slept, fully-clothed, in another,
with his pump-action shotgun by his bedside.
Waiting.
Born into a farming family in 1944 in the
Cambridgeshire village of Wisbech, Martin was a
loner from an early age.
At 35 he inherited Bleak House from relatives.
During his time there, he became convinced that
the house was a target for burglars. He told the court
that, over the years, various items had been stolen
and that he had become frustrated by police
"inaction". Privately, police sources say they are not
sure the burglaries took place.
He was involved in a number of incidents with guns.
In June 1976, the farmer is alleged to have gone to
a friend's house brandishing a revolver. In
December 1987 he had an argument at his brother's
house and is said to have used a shotgun to smash
windows. In 1994 he had his shotgun certificate
revoked after he found a man scrumping for apples
in his orchard and shot a hole in the back of his
vehicle.
Emneth has policing difficulties because of its rural
location on the borders of Norfolk and
Cambridgeshire: making it a target for the travelling
criminal.
Farms around Norfolk have long attracted travelling
people, who come to pick the fruits of the season.
To Martin, they were all "light-fingered pykies" and
"bastards". Martin is not alone in his views. Speak to
some locals and there seems to be a deep-seated
hatred for the travelling community.
After the incident last August, more than 300 locals
crammed in to Emneth village hall to complain to
police about response times. The feeling that a
man should be allowed to protect himself in his own
home reverberated around the country and the
farmer received hundreds of supportive letters.
There was no sympathy for the dead Barras. And
from Martin there has been no remorse. In an
interview with the BBC, he said: "We are supposed
to live in a civilised society. It's not the way I have
been treated. People are not aware of what it's like
in the countryside. Criminals prevail. It can't be
right." He never mentioned Fred Barras once.
• The above is an excerpt from a fuller article by
Audrey Gillan which will appear in tomorrow's
Guardian newspaper.
