Another arrest for defending property. Apparently.

Watchmaker is held for attempted murder after 'blasting burglar with shotgun during raid by two intruders at rural home'

A watchmaker has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a suspected burglar was allegedly shot in the leg during a botched raid in a quiet rural village.

The details in this article are very sketchy, but on face value it looks like two men broke into someones home, tried to steal the keys to a car, but one of them was shot by the homeowner. He has now been arrested for attempted murder.

Assuming that's what happened, I ask again, why are the police insistent on arresting these people for defending themselves?

There have been three recent high profile cases of burglars being knifed to death by homeowners, two of whom have been released without charge. They were arrested on a charge of murder. This man hasn't killed his attacker, only wounded him, yet still he was arrested on the biggest charge possible, attempted murder.

I would argue that a man who fired a shotgun at an intruder and only gave him a non life threatening leg would was specifically attempting not to commit murder.

The Police obviously think differently. They really hate members of the public doing their jobs for them because they believe they have the monopoly on crime prevention and defence.

They even had a word in The Boiling Frogs ear just for sitting on a burglar.

Like I said, the details are sketchy, there will probably be more to come.

One thing that does spring out of the article is the polices assurances to the public that this is a one off and they are in no danger.

'I wish to reassure local residents that this is a contained incident: we have people in custody and we believe there is no further threat to the public in the area.'

'Police remain in Leigh Sinton and Whitbourne conducting house-to-house inquiries and forensic investigations, and providing reassurance to local residents.

'I would like to reiterate that residents are not at any risk.

You know the reason for this don't you. This was a shooting, an incident with a firearm and probably a legal one. Visions of Raul Moat and Derek Bird, nut jobs on the rampage with guns. That's how the police want us to think, that all guns are bad and all guns should be banned.

Don't worry good citizens, the police are there to defend you from nasty shotgun toting homeowners.