Beating the Burglars

Munir Hussain’s case sparked a national outcry and prompted a debate over how far a householder should go to defend their home.

His family was ambushed at knifepoint outside their home in High Wycombe and held hostage in their own front living room.

When Mr Hussain and his family managed to overcome the attackers and events turned dramatically in their favour… what he did next resulted in a prison sentence, while the man who invaded his house has yet to face trial after being left unfit to plead.

In this episode of Tonight we examine if an Englishman’s home really is his castle, or if our justice system is tipped in favour of criminals.

We speak to people who have experienced exactly what it feels like to come face to face with an intruder. Enlisting the help of an ex-detective the film shows you what you can and can’t do to protect your home.

For the first time television presenter Myleene Klass talks about the moment she came face to face with burglars while her daughter slept upstairs.

She says: "Something that will never leave me for the rest of my life because it was one of most petrifying things that I have ever seen was… the shadow of a man just creep across my kitchen."

Tonight speaks to Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, who shot dead a teenage burglar as he tried to flee his farm.

He tells us: "Why should I have any regrets? It’s natural, it’s innate basically when you’ve got an unknown in your house and indeed your property."

But would changing the current law of ‘reasonable force’ result in a vigilantes' charter? Some experts believe that it could even put householders in greater danger.

Former thief and drug addict Richard Taylor, now runs a charity called Victory Outreach UK, says: "It will be a shift towards what I would call Texas law. It would mean that the burglars will feel obliged to arm themselves before they come on a burglary and they won’t feel obliged to run away as they do at the moment.

"The burglar is after one thing, he’s after cash, jewellery… credit cards, anything where he can get a quick transfer… No burglar, especially an opportunist as I was would burgle a house and look for confrontation… You don’t want that, that is why most burglaries are committed when people are out."

Outreach: www.vouk.org.uk