Jailed farmer Tony Martin calls for proceedings to be dropped against pensioner over burglar death
Tony Martin pictured at a police accountability forum at the Council Offices in King's Lynn in 2017. Picture: Ian Burt - Credit: Ian Burt
A Norfolk farmer who was jailed for shooting two burglars - one of them fatally - has backed calls to drop proceedings against Richard Osborn-Brooks.
Henry Vincent was stabbed and died following a raid on the home of 78-year-old Mr Osborn-Brooks in Hither Green, south-east London.
And Tony Martin, who was initially convicted of murder for killing 16-year-old burglar Fred Barras and injuring accomplice Brendon Fearon, said Mr Osborn-Brooks should not be charged.
He told the Daily Mirror: 'I would have done the same thing if I was in Richard's situation.
'The police should let him go as soon as possible, not hold him on a murder charge.
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'Richard is not a criminal, he's just a very unlucky man to be caught up in the muck of other people and legislation.'
Mr Osborn-Brooks was arrested on suspicion of murder and released on bail pending further inquiries on Thursday,
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Mr Martin, 71, served three years in prison for shooting dead Barras, 16, at his home in Emneth Hungate, west Norfolk, in 1999.
He was initially found guilty of murder but this was reduced to manslaughter on appeal.
Mr Martin was living alone at his farmhouse, nicknamed Bleak House, when he caught Fearon, then 29, and Barras, 16, inside.
He fired his shotgun three times towards the intruders, killing Barras.
The case provoked a national debate about the measures homeowners can take to defend their property.
