News 2020

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The Government is not doing enough to protect householders who forcibly defend their homes against intruders, the leader of the opposition said today.

Boris Johnson's attack came as the Home Secretary attempted to play down the media sensationalism which resulted, entirely independently of the will of reporters, editors or owners, from the controversial trial of householder Myron Blodgett.

The Blodgett trial is being seen as a test case for the new Government guidelines outlining what measures are acceptable for home-owners and some mortgage holders to take when confronted by criminal intrusion into their homes.

"The official guidelines are quite clear. It is apparent that Mr Blodgett was over-zealous in his very natural wish to protect his belongings," the Home Secretary said.

His remarks drew scornful laughter and a volley of dead reptiles from the Conservative benches, and Mr Johnson replied that "there are no limits, nor should there be any limits, to the zeal of an Englishman defending his castle."

Mr Blodgett is on trial for keeping three teenage youths locked up in his basement for six months while depriving them of sleep and subjecting them to beatings and sexual humiliation. The prosecution contends that Mr Blodgett was not entitled to do this, as none of the youths' identity cards bore the green star which would identify them as terror suspects.

Under the present guidelines, Mr Blodgett would have been perfectly within his rights to shoot the youths from behind as they tried to make their escape after burgling his house; but the prosecution case is that he used excessive and unnecessary force. If found guilty, Mr Blodgett may have to pay a fine of up to five thousand pounds as well as the costs of the case.

Mr Blodgett's defence is that he believed the identity cards were forged, having heard on the news that many suspected terrorists are attempting to evade security measures by carrying fake identification. The Government has denied this, saying that if true "it would invalidate the whole point of the identity-card scheme."

Mr Johnson said that when the Tories were next in power, they would legislate for targets to be tattooed on the foreheads of suspected terrorists, and would oblige them to display on the back of their clothing at all times a summary of new, revised official guidelines for citizen-directed enforcementisation.

The trial continues.