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Business owner catches thieves - ends up charged with assault
Thunder Lips
Posts: 1,660 Forum Member
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The Daily Mail wrote:A businessman who attacked two thieves caught red-handed in a night-time raid was arrested after defending his property, a court has heard.
Andrew Woodhouse, 44, was today on trial facing assault charges on the two raiders he found stealing diesel from his business.
A jury heard how Woodhouse grabbed a fence post one was carrying as a weapon - and used it to fight back against them.
The father-of-five - who says he has repeatedly been a victim of crime at his gardening company - kept hold of the two burglars until police arrived.
But the court was told it was Woodhouse who was then arrested and accused of using excessive force.
The thieves ended up with £75 fines - but businessman Woodhouse could face a prison sentence if he is found guilty of attacking them.
Full story here
Wondering people's opinions on this one...personally I think, from what I've read, I'd be content with him being let off with a stern warning at most. The criminals were caught and one apparently beaten with the very item he intended to use as a weapon himself. Nobody died, they should just consider it a standard potential hazard of their "job". I don't see this prosecution serving the public in any meaningful way at all.
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'Oops! Google Chrome could not find i'm sure the slaves would have some light hearted moments'
However it's a very poor decision from what you've posted.
Don't get me wrong, I fully and unequivocally support people's right to defend their home, family or themselves in any way they feel appropriate but if you attack someone to the point you break both their legs, it's going above and beyond simple self defence.
So while a prison sentence probably isn't what i'd want for the guy, some form of punishment I think is appropriate.
Chasing a criminal and leaving him with two broken legs and a broken arm sounds a little difficult to justify as "self defence".
Prosecutions for self defence are very rare, this isn't such a case.
We may feel little sympathy for thieves, but this was GBH.
Yeah I forgot there was a broken arm as well. Basically he's beaten the guy to within an inch of his life.
I feel little sympathy for the criminal because if you put yourself in that situation and end up getting a hiding because of it then you've only got yourself to blame, but it's still far from self defence though.
If Mr Woodhouse had incapacitated both of them with the post to the point he could restrain them until the police arrived, then this would likely have never gone to court.
However it should definitely not be a custodial sentence. Due to the circumstances, a caution would be enough i think, or a fine smaller than that given to the thieves.
Hope he gets off with a warning at most. It would be incredibly unjust if he received anything harsher than the two thieves did.
I think the fact it was 2 against one makes it more justifiable. Especially as they had weapons. Otherwise if he hadn't incapacitated one bloke, he would still be being attacked as he was pinning the other down.
I hope he isnt convicted.
Don't see how he could not be charged. He admitted attacking the thieves. It may be possible for him to receive a suspended sentence, in which case that would seem more just than locking him up.
And that is precisely what I would argue to the police and to the courts. "I chased after them to retrieve my property, and they turned on me with a lump of wood. In fear of my life, I managed to grab it and put one assailant out of commission and subdue the other"
Quite right, if it's 2 vs 1, with a weapon; if I were in that situation then I would assume they would be willing to use that weapon on me. It's better to be judged by 12 rather than be carried by 6.
I guess I'm just hoping that common sense and a modicum of understanding and fairness could be applied.
If this is true then this is jolly good news.
2 broken legs and a broken arm sounds bad, but not when it's 2 criminals (one of whom have got a weapon) against 1 innocent business protecting his property and assets
Had he not have incapacitated that man then he may well have received a hiding himself as well as being a victim of theft as well as the perpetrators getting away and probably never being caught.
Maybe he should have just left them? But then having already been a victim of theft in the past, I can fully understand why he'd had enough and thought he's going to try catch the *******s!!
Absolutely agreed!
Its ok for the Police to say "We should be called etc etc", but this wasn't the first time this had happened, and obviously the Police hadn't or failed to do anything useful. Same thing with Tony Martin, the Police failed him on several occasions and look where that ended up.
I have a customer who has a steel firm, they had a lorry stolen, a friend of his works for SWALEC and was repairing a electricity pylon over looking a Traveller site and spied said truck on the site. He phoned his friend to ask "had he lost a lorry, and if so he was looking at it". They phoned the police to tell them where it was and the response was "we don't have any one available to deal with the Travellers", even though within a few hours that lorry was going to be turned into scrap metal.
The Police in this country really need to start getting a gripe and doing the job they're paid for, or more incidents like this will happen.