Met chief: Public back me on burglars

Britain's top police officer told today how he had received "tremendous" support for his call to allow householders to use whatever force necessary to protect their homes against intruders.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said he had won backing from the public and senior politicians from both main parties.

He said he believed his call for people to be able to defend their homes "like an Englishman's castle" - even if it meant killing the intruder - had struck a chord with people. Sir John, in an interview-with the Standard, underlined comments he made at the weekend only days after City financier John Monckton was killed in a ferocious struggle at his Chelsea home trying to defend his family from two intruders.

Today Sir John argued for people's right to arm themselves at home with weapons such as baseball-bats and pledged that the killers of Mr Monckton would be caught.

The Commissioner, who will step down next month after five years as head of the Yard, has called for an urgent updating of the law to protect householders who use force to defend their homes. He argued that there should be a legal presumption that those who use force to defend their homes are acting within the law and not "the other way around".

People who injure - or kill - an attacker should face prosecution only in "extreme circumstances". Responding to Sir John's remarks, the Home Office said "no avenues have been closed off " in a previously announced review of the law on murder. The Commissioner reiterated his comments today, saying: "The bottom line is that everyone from the public to the politicians are behind it, apart from one or two lawyers."

Sir John also backed people's right to arm themselves at home in order to defend themselves.

"People do have baseball bats to defend themselves, after all they are in their homes and it is not an offensive weapon. I draw the line at firearms but people are entitled to be in possession of such things in their own homes.

"I am a great believer that the home is an Englishman's and an Englishwoman's castle. We are entitled to feel safe in our home."

Sir John said he had spoken out after speaking to police officers and householders who had been involved in similar situations. He said: "They are saying that people have no certainty about what the law is.

"The test at the moment is that you use 'reasonable force' in the circumstances. I think the test of reasonableness needs to be looked at. There needs to be clarity.

"If it is 1am or 2am and someone is trying to defend their house, their wife or children with an intruder coming around the kitchen table at them with a knife, they need to know with some certainty what force they can use."

Sir John said the case of Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer jailed for shooting dead a 16-year-old burglar, had raised the issue of self defence though it was not a good example because Martin had

shot the suspect as he was running away. He stressed he was against giving householders a free rein to indulge in " excessive violence".

The Commissioner said high profile offences such as Mr Monckton's murder were extremely worrying but that burglary in London was the lowest for 31 years and this year's murder rate was down by 18 per cent.

He believes crime can only really be properly tackled by boosting the number of police officers in London to 35,000 and the expansion of the "Safer Neighbourhoods" policing project across the capital. The scheme, which is also backed by his successor Sir Ian Blair, involves putting long-term teams of police and community support officers into 620 local London wards.

Sir John said: "This is about putting more uniform police on the streets who will provide people with re-assurance.

"This will be about people being able to see a uniform officer patrolling their street."