Those self defence stories

A man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of attempted murder for shooting a burglar in the leg. The details of the story were a bit sketch but this morning Pavlov's Cat directed me to this follow up story that tells us the homeowner also had a 'large cannabis growing operation'.

The question is, did his cannabis activities have anything to do with the burglary and the shooting? If the answer is no then it's still a case of justified self defence.

It may well be that he was just growing a few plants for personal use and the police have picked up on this as part of their quest to demonise the use of guns and home defence in general.

With impeccable timing, the BBC has also reported today, that Vincent Cooke, who was arrested last month for stabbing a burglar to death, has been released without charge.

Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for the North West area, said: "It is clear to me that Mr Cooke did what he honestly and instinctively believed was necessary on that day to protect himself, his home and his family from intruders."

That's a good result, although he should never have been arrested in the first place. He was clearly not a danger to the public; the police could have done their investigation without any need for an arrest.

It seems those who defend their homes with deadly force are not being charged with a crime but we still have a long way to go before they are no longer treated as criminals by the police.

Now we need to see what happens to our cannabis growing shooter. I was very disappointed to hear that he was growing drugs because this will definitely be used against him by the police and media, even if it had nothing at all to do with the burglary.

Time will tell I suppose.