Maybe we can hire him to replace Justice Steven David!
Judge Michael Pert QC spoke out after a lawyer demanded leniency for a career criminal who he claimed had been blasted with a shotgun in 'a form of summary justice'.
The judge replied: 'If you burgle a house in the country where the householder owns a legally held shotgun, that is the chance you take. You cannot come to court and ask for a lighter sentence because of it.'
The case reignited the debate over the rights of homeowners to defend their properties from intruders.
Daniel Mansell, 33, and Joshua O'Gorman, 27, were sentenced to four years in prison following the masked raid on the cottage in Welby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
Their victims, Andy and Tracey Ferrie, were arrested after Mr Ferrie opened fire on the pair during the midnight break-in.
They were held on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and spent 40 hours in custody before prosecutors decided they had acted in 'reasonable self-defence' and lifted the threat of charges.
The couple emigrated to Australia on Monday amid fears of a revenge attack. Cannabis addict Mansell was shot in the right hand while O'Gorman was shot in the face during the incident earlier this month.
Both men were out of prison on licence when they struck at the Ferries' 200-year-old rented home.
Judge Pert backed householders' rights to defend their home from intruders, telling Mansell and O'Gorman: 'I make it plain that, in my judgment, being shot is not mitigation.
'You cannot come to court and ask for a lighter sentence because of it.'
He spoke out after Andrew Frymann, defending O'Gorman, suggested his client's 'near death experience' should be 'taken into consideration' by the judge when sentencing.
Read the whole thing. Certainly not what I would have expected to hear from England. Do you suppose the two young not-so-toughs will appeal?
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