Britain: A British farmer whose shotgun killing of a teenage burglar provoked a national debate about victims' rights was freed from jail yesterday.
With fear of violence rising fast in Britain, supporters of Mr Tony Martin said he should never have been sent to prison. They hail him as a self-defence hero in a land where an Englishman's home is his castle.
Mr Martin (58), served two-thirds of a five-year sentence for manslaughter after killing Fred Barras (16) and wounding Brendon Fearon (33) when they broke into Bleak House, his virtually derelict farmhouse in Norfolk.
His release fuelled fresh controversy after a national newspaper paid him for his story. The Daily Mirror said yesterday it had secured exclusive rights to print Mr Martin's story.
"We, like most people, do not condone the fact that Tony Martin has killed somebody," said Mirror editor Piers Morgan, "but we have enormous sympathy for a man who was repeatedly burgled in his own home and eventually felt compelled to take drastic action to defend himself and his property."
Britain's Press Complaints Commission said it would investigate any payments made to Mr Martin. Payments to criminals are against its code of practice except where it is in the public interest.
The crime and punishment debate was fuelled further when Mr Fearon was released last Friday after serving less than a third of an 18-month term for drug dealing.
Mr Martin was moved from prison last week and put into police custody before his formal release on Monday to avoid a media circus outside the jail.
There was no sign of Mr Martin at his farmhouse yesterday. Supporters left red roses and tied a yellow ribbon round one of his trees.