Conservativestargeted overintruder law

Michael Wolkind QC said yesterday that permitting householders to use any force which is not “grossly disproportionate” – as Tories suggest – would amount to “state-sponsored revenge”.

His comments came after Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he “strongly supports” the right of law-abiding people to defend their families and property and called on the courts to show “mercy” if they use reasonable force to do so.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling confirmed that the Conservative party “certainly” intended to change the law, which currently permits the use of “reasonable force”, and favours a move to the “grossly disproportionate” test.

“That would give the householder a pretty big comfort zone before the law could possibly intervene,” Mr Grayling told BBC1’s Politics Show.

“The message we are sending is that the law has to be absolutely fair and square on the side of the householder... The householder needs to know that they don’t have to step back and say ‘What can or can’t I do?’”

But Mr Wolkind, who represented Mr Hussain and Mr Martin in their appeals against jail sentences for attacking intruders, said there was no need for the law to be changed.

He gave the example of kicking a criminal on the ground – once was reasonable, eight times was grossly disproportionate.

The Tory test was a horrible one, he said. “It sounds like state-sponsored revenge. I don’t understand why sentencing should take place in the home. Why can’t it go through the courts?”