^&*@%sucking thieves

[stuart.in.leigh]

Originally Posted by Trevor Legate

Here in the UK, just showing a fake or replica gun in public can and will land you in jail. A few months back, a young lad flashed a BB target pistol in a public car park. He was caught on camera and a few hours later armed police sealed off our street and went in through the front door, without opening it, and hauled him outside, whacked him hard and threw him in jail. He can expect a custodial sentence! All highly efficient but if a burglary takes place in the same street, you can forget about calling the cops - they got far too much paperwork to get through.....sort it out yourself and get over it.
At last, there is talk of home owners being allowed to defend themselves, at long last. Seems if we so much as touch an intruder, we have violated his human rights and stopped him going about his daily business (according to our so-called government, serial criminals have a 'right' to carry out their work!!) For my part, I'd cause him as much serious harm as possible and discuss his 'rights' later.

I agree with your final comment, although I wonder how I would react if I actually caught an intruder inside my home.
Some years ago we were awakened by a gang attempting to steal our BMW off the drive.
After dialling 999, I dressed (in a panic), ran to the kitchen and burst outside with the largest kitchen knife I could find, to be confronted by a masked baseball bat weilding scumbag, at the almost same moment the Police screeched to a halt across the street and the lowlife were off in an instant,in their getaway vehicle.
The police were more concerned with me and my hastily procured weapon than chasing after the criminals.
I later found out from a local solicitor, purely by chance that the gang was known to the police for ram raid burglaries, using high powered cars and that on the night at my house, one of the members was in fact an undercover Police Officer!
I gave the usual statement at the time, the insurance paid for the damage and I never heard another thing from Police or anyone else.

On another far more pleasant subject, may I say how much I enjoy your book 'Cobra the first 40 years'. It is superb.

Regards

Stuart