Events | 2009.12.28
DPP rejects demand for law change
Keir Starmer responds to Tory calls after jailing of Munir Hussain who used a cricket bat to beat a knife-wielding intruder
Tory plans to strengthen the rights of householders who tackle burglars on their property were rejected out of hand yesterday by the director of public prosecutions who said the law was working well.
Keir Starmer spoke out after the Conservatives called for a change in the law after the jailing of Munir Hussain who used a cricket bat to beat a knife-wielding man who threatened and tied up his family in their home.
Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, announced earlier this month that the law, which allows householders to use "reasonable force" against intruders, does not go far enough.
Grayling believes that only householders who use "grossly disproportionate" force should be prosecuted.
Starmer yesterday dismissed Grayling\'s suggestion as he strongly defended the decision to prosecute Hussain who had meted out "summary justice".
In an interview on Radio 4\'s The World at One, Starmer said: "The law is that reasonable force can be used and if the householder makes a mistake they will be protected because they will be judged on the basis of the mistake that they made. What the law ... doesn\'t allow is for individuals after the event, having pursued someone who may or may not have been an intruder, then to seek some sort of summary justice. As the judge recognised in the Hussain case, which involved beating severely an individual, we can\'t allow our system to be undermined by those exacting summary judgment in that way."
The DPP said he understood people\'s concerns that the alleged burglar in the Hussain case had not been prosecuted. But Starmer added: "It is an irony that in that case the only reason the intruder could not be brought before the courts and dealt with, as he should have been and I recognise that, is because of the mental and brain injury that was caused to him during the course of the attack."
Starmer pointed out that the prosecution of householders in such cases is rare. "There are many cases, some involving death, where no prosecutions are brought," he said.
"We would only ever bring a prosecution where we thought the degree of force was unreasonable in such a way that the jury would realistically convict. So these are very rare cases. History tells us that the current test works very well. I really can\'t see a case for changing the law at this stage."
The DPP, a former human rights lawyer who is regarded with great suspicion by the Tories, also dismissed Tory plans to repeal the Human Rights Act. David Cameron plans to replace the act with a British Bill of Rights.
Starmer said that he was not entering the political arena on the human rights act. But he added: "I have neither agreed nor disagreed with the government or the opposition on this.
"My concern is with victims and witnesses and the HRA has been a very effective instrument in progressing the rights of victims and witnesses. I am anxious that there shouldn\'t be any halting of that progress."Labour yesterday claimed that the Tories are "split from top to bottom" on human rights. Cameron has watered down plans to trigger Britain\'s departure from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) but will still press ahead with replacing the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights. This has been dismissed by Kenneth Clarke, the shadow business secretary, as "xenophobic and wrong-headed".Michael Wills, the shadow justice minister, said: "It\'s increasingly clear that the Conservatives are split from top to bottom on this issue."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/28/starmer-law-change-rejection
