'i'm The Victim': Shameless Thief Says Justice System Has 'let Him Down' After The Victim Who Battered Him Was Cleared

[Renewed Investor]

I'm not against maximum #%@$ing aggression if the perpetrators are a threat and in this case I hadn't read that they had turned on the victim with a stick.

So far as retribution goes I got mugged in London (Liverpool St) many moons ago and fought back so much and so hard that I was literally knocking teeth out of my target using the preferred method of face to concrete, face to concrete... if it wasn't for the station guard I think I'd quite probably have killed him. He shouldn't have threatened to kill me first. It's only human to fight without strictly looking for it.

Good on you I say. Letting them get one over on you only encourages them to do it again. I had a similar incident where I keyed a guy in the face for trying to mug me with a screwdriver. I hope he decided to choose a more honest career after that.

[Frank Hovis]

If you're threatened and attacked you fight back without quarter as lingtomsilver did.

The guys in the OP seem to think that one frightened and enraged victim should have shown the same restraint as a trained police officer.

Sorry guys, the gloves are off and you took them off first.

The nearest I've been to being mugged is being with a group of friends when attacked by a gang many years ago. Now I wouldn't claim to be Bruce Lee but whilst all my mates got whacked nobody would take me on because of my size / build and having had a few drinks I couldn't get anybody. So my one big gang fight and I was a spectator in the middle of it! My mates didn't mind as they saw I was having a go.

Edit: I'm not enormous and wasn't even the tallest, but I understand where the gang were coming from, if I was picking a fight I would also avoid the one that looked like a wrestler (as I have been told).

[Byron]

Like the jury, who obviously didn't want to listen, I would have said Not Guilty (Why did it take them 20 minutes?)

[happy_renting]

I'd have made use of the diesel on the thief.

[sleepwello'nights]

Like the jury, who obviously didn't want to listen, I would have said Not Guilty (Why did it take them 20 minutes?)

Probably because they had to walk to the jury room and then back to the court room.

[SNACR]

The problem is when the public start getting their teeth into doling out justice it ends with burnt out Paediatrician's cars.

[Guest TheBlueCat]

Like the jury, who obviously didn't want to listen, I would have said Not Guilty (Why did it take them 20 minutes?)

It probably took them 20 minutes to stop laughing. I'm with duck man on this one.

[dances with sheeple]

It probably took them 20 minutes to stop laughing. I'm with duck man on this one.

Quack Quack....or should that be Whack Whack

[Rave]

Unusually for me, since I am in general an angry self-righteous twit, I can't get annoyed with anyone involved in this story, except perhaps with the Mail for their typical trolling.

Looking at it from the thief's perspective, one has to ask whether two broken legs and a broken arm is a just punishment for stealing (what he claims was) 50 quid's worth of diesel. Unless you tend to the mediaeval view, IMO it is not.

And so, really, the victim of the theft/perpetrator of the broken limbs quite rightly faced a jury of his peers so that they could decide whether what he had done was legal, or a gross overreaction. I would have been very worried if the police/CPS had decided not to press charges, if I'm honest. He himself expressed regret at the extent of the guy's injuries.

The jury decided that he was innocent...and fair enough, they would have had every detail of the case presented to them, and I trust their judgement. Thus the message goes out that while you cannot use indiscriminate force to dole out your own justice, your fellow citizens will back you up if they feel your actions were justified.

The problem is when the public start getting their teeth into doling out justice it ends with burnt out Paediatrician's cars.

Or much worse than that.

[Dorkins]

The problem is when the public start getting their teeth into doling out justice it ends with burnt out Paediatrician's cars.

Whereas the trained professionals put 7 bullets into an innocent Brazilian electrician's head as he sat on a tube train...

[Kurt Barlow]

I do sort of suspect there might have been some pre-meditation in this case to the seemingly punitive nature of the would-be thieves' injuries.

However, I think there is a big influence, from TV and films, that those confronted with violent assailants can reasonably subdue them with minimal injury. Obviously protection of property can go way too far the other way like the case in the US where a youth got the wrong house, for a party, and the homeowner fatally shot them prior to establishing their identity.

Also I think the Police and criminal justice system have a lot of culpability for these incidents. If they were enforcing the law properly it wouldn't be necessary for anyone to 'take it into their own hands' - which also implies the law belongs exclusively to those who enforce it - which isn't true. It really belongs to all those who choose to abide by it.

Too right. My dad in the 1960's smashed a bottle round the head of Burglar in the 1960's - the burglar was robbing my grandparents chemists shop and had a knife in his hand

My Dad - student at the time with a passing resemblence to Buddy Holly got a pat on the back off the Old Bill.

[Kurt Barlow]

Unusually for me, since I am in general an angry self-righteous twit, I can't get annoyed with anyone involved in this story, except perhaps with the Mail for their typical trolling.

Looking at it from the thief's perspective, one has to ask whether two broken legs and a broken arm is a just punishment for stealing (what he claims was) 50 quid's worth of diesel. Unless you tend to the mediaeval view, IMO it is not.

And so, really, the victim of the theft/perpetrator of the broken limbs quite rightly faced a jury of his peers so that they could decide whether what he had done was legal, or a gross overreaction. I would have been very worried if the police/CPS had decided not to press charges, if I'm honest. He himself expressed regret at the extent of the guy's injuries.

The jury decided that he was innocent...and fair enough, they would have had every detail of the case presented to them, and I trust their judgement. Thus the message goes out that while you cannot use indiscriminate force to dole out your own justice, your fellow citizens will back you up if they feel your actions were justified.

Or much worse than that.

It may have been £50 worth of diesel but also take into account:

The damage breaking into the yard

More often than not the diesel is drained from the tank by putting a bolster through it

The business then has to pay for the repair either directly or insurance - therefore hiked up premiums

The vehicle is out of service whilst the repair is done possibly meaning more lost business

Then there is the clean up from all the diesel that ends up on the ground.

If Id been on the jury Id have had a good long laugh before voting not guilty

[swissy_fit]

I think you might find it hard to give one leg a whack, and then ask the person to lie still quietly while you check if it's broken yet. And his son-in-law definitely doesn't look too frail.

If you hit someone hard enough to break their leg or arm, they are lying on the ground screaming, not fighting or threatening you.

This guy continued beating the bloke with the fence post as he lay on the ground, let's not try and dress up what obviously happened.

You can argue that he asked for it, maybe he did, but that's another debate.

The interesting thing is that the gardener apprehended the other one with much less violence, presumably because miscreant 2 had seen/heard what happened to miscreant 1 and was sh1t-scared of getting the same, and maybe the gardener chap had cooled a little by then himself and was worried about the consequences of further violence on his part.

[AThirdWay]

If you hit someone hard enough to break their leg or arm, they are lying on the ground screaming, not fighting or threatening you.

This guy continued beating the bloke with the fence post as he lay on the ground, let's not try and dress up what obviously happened.

You can argue that he asked for it, maybe he did, but that's another debate.

The interesting thing is that the gardener apprehended the other one with much less violence, presumably because miscreant 2 had seen/heard what happened to miscreant 1 and was sh1t-scared of getting the same, and maybe the gardener chap had cooled a little by then himself and was worried about the consequences of further violence on his part.

Your opinion is formed dispassionately, and remotely. Adrenalin can have an amazing effect on the human body, and nature.

I always advise to avoid conflict if at all possible, but if it is unavoidable, then don't fek about. Maximum energy, maximum movement and maximum noise tend to bring conflicts to a close far quicker, and with far less violence, than the cool, calculated shyte in the movies.

[Turned Out Nice Again]

the gardener lost it and decided to punish the thief.

that sort of thing is accepted in the USA, didn't used to be here.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

the gardener lost it and decided to punish the thief.

that sort of thing is accepted in the USA, didn't used to be here.

maybe, rightly or wrongly, people had more faith in the criminal justice system

[corevalue]

It may have been £50 worth of diesel but also take into account:

The damage breaking into the yard

More often than not the diesel is drained from the tank by putting a bolster through it

The business then has to pay for the repair either directly or insurance - therefore hiked up premiums

The vehicle is out of service whilst the repair is done possibly meaning more lost business

Then there is the clean up from all the diesel that ends up on the ground.

If Id been on the jury Id have had a good long laugh before voting not guilty

IIRC, had a significant amount of diesel been spilled, the tank owner would have had a strict liability offense to answer for the pollution. He wouldn't be able to blame it on the burglar. Am I right?

[EUBanana]

If you hit someone hard enough to break their leg or arm, they are lying on the ground screaming, not fighting or threatening you.

This guy continued beating the bloke with the fence post as he lay on the ground, let's not try and dress up what obviously happened.

Well, maybe the bloke shouldn't have tried nicking his diesel then. It's not like it was a random attack in the street; it was in defence of his property. It is not comparable to a mob of idiots looking to lynch paediatricians.

[Byron]

Frankly, I would not want to be reasonable about this.

I think that it a very good thing that thieves get a severe beating.

Acts as a deterrent.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

I've just applied for a refund of incorrectly levied penalty charges on my Oyster Card. According to the software, I stole from London Underground and punitive charges were in order.

No doubt, if ticket barriers could issue automated punishment beatings that would be an even more effective deterrent.

[swissy_fit]

I've just applied for a refund of incorrectly levied penalty charges on my Oyster Card. According to the software I stole from London Underground and punitive charges were in order.

No doubt, if ticket barriers could issue automated punishment beatings that would be an even more effective deterrent.

Some people on this website will have killer robots watching over their garden sheds in the next 20 years, I think.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Some people on this website will have killer robots watching over their garden sheds in the next 20 years, I think.

I should mention that I haven't taken too kindly to having the Oyster system attempt to thieve from me for the third time in less than a year and would dearly love to break the legs of the person responsible with a stick, even if I get a refund, just to put them off doing it again.

[bendy]

If you hit someone hard enough to break their leg or arm, they are lying on the ground screaming, not fighting or threatening you.

This guy continued beating the bloke with the fence post as he lay on the ground, let's not try and dress up what obviously happened.

You can argue that he asked for it, maybe he did, but that's another debate.

The interesting thing is that the gardener apprehended the other one with much less violence, presumably because miscreant 2 had seen/heard what happened to miscreant 1 and was sh1t-scared of getting the same, and maybe the gardener chap had cooled a little by then himself and was worried about the consequences of further violence on his part.

Reasonable force is a tricky and IMHO, daft piece of legal script. Adrenhaline has already been mentioned in the case of this - would it also be possible that the thief lashed out, got his arm broken but in the rush shrugged it off and continued to attack until his body broke down from the broken arms and the legs.

I think it's reasonable to break as many bones/skulls etc. until the defender of property/real victim feels there is no further threat from the perpetrator.

[Byron]

This guy continued beating the bloke with the fence post as he lay on the ground, let's not try and dress up what obviously happened.

.

Not obvious. Was this in the evidence?

[dances with sheeple]

Reasonable force is a tricky and IMHO, daft piece of legal script. Adrenhaline has already been mentioned in the case of this - would it also be possible that the thief lashed out, got his arm broken but in the rush shrugged it off and continued to attack until his body broke down from the broken arms and the legs.

I think it's reasonable to break as many bones/skulls etc. until the defender of property/real victim feels there is no further threat from the perpetrator.

By the looks of the older bloke he is a thief not a fighter, I don`t think he was fighting back after the first part of him broke, if he was ever fighting back at all. The younger bloke looks more dangerous, but wouldn`t last very long with the duck walking gardener I`m afraid. If young guy and older guy were both there, I reckon the young dude ran away faster (duck feet were made for fighting, not running) and the gardener caught the old guy and gave him a very bad beating.

The problem with this kind of thing IMO is that you invite retaliation, and depending on who is related to the injured man it could range from two or three guys that CAN handle themselves turning up one night to give you a kicking, or even a knife or bullet in the back, really not worth it IMO. The gardener should improve his security systems instead of battering pensioners who go on the rob.