THE convicted killer of a teenage intruder in his home has died at the age of 80, a family friend has said.
Tony Martin shot a 16-year-old at his Norfolk farmhouse in 1999.
Tony Martin returned to his farm house in Norfolk after being released from prison[/caption]
The following year, Martin was jailed for the boy’s murder and for injuring another 29-year-old man, Brendan Fearon, in the same incident.
It is thought the panicked farmer shot at both burglars after they broke into his secluded property.
His defence for the shooting of Fred Barras was that he pulled the trigger as a warning.
The confrontation divided the nation with reclusive Martin protesting his innocence while others believed he lacked regret over that fateful night.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun last year, Martin claimed he had been “stitched up” by police, lawyers, prosecutors and judges at his trial.
He also revealed he hoped his name to be cleared one day.
Martin even described visiting Fred Barras’ grave, insisting that he “felt no remorse” standing over it.
‘I acted on instinct’
“I tried to defend my home, my private space. I was just a man, asleep, for goodness sake. Not some roaming vigilante,” he said.
Recalling the night Bleak House in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, was raided, Mr Martin said: “I had been to see my mother, bless her soul. I had got home, had a bottle of wine, settled down with a Farmers Weekly and fell asleep.
“I remember hearing noises. I knew someone was in the house. I knew I had a gun in the house, I just didn’t know where it was.
“I ask anyone, ‘What would you do in that situation?’. I eventually found my gun, which I hadn’t used for a long time, under the bed with some old newspapers. I don’t remember much after that.
“I was sure I hadn’t shot anyone. The next thing I knew was the police were on top of me in my bed.
“What happened after was all a great shock, a great injustice. I don’t see how I would act differently. I have no regrets.”
Today, Mr Martin tells how being jailed for murder sent his life into a downward spiral, bringing worry to his beloved mother Hilary and costing him friendships.
When he was finally freed from prison he lived like a hermit — at one point sleeping in his car.
And he admits he still has little sympathy for the burglars, saying: “I pay the criminals no thought at all.
“Maybe I am being kind by even calling them criminals. Thanks to them, everything has been a blur for me for the last 25 years.”
‘GREAT INJUSTICE’
At the time of the burglary, in August 1999, Mr Martin was 54 and had been working on and around £3million Bleak House, which he inherited from his aunt.
It was in total darkness when he realised he was not alone in the property.
Making his way to the stairwell of the labyrinth-like farmhouse, he blasted his gun.
Two more shots were fired as the intruders fled. Fred was hit in the leg and back, dying at the scene.
His accomplice, Brendon Fearon, then 29, was shot in the leg and survived.
Fearon was later jailed for three years for his part in a conspiracy to burgle the property, accompanied by Fred.
Yet Mr Martin was charged with offences including murder, attempted murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
He slammed police handling of his case, raging: “It’s injustice. I felt like I was stitched up. I thought they decided I was guilty and didn’t want to look at facts that showed I wasn’t.
“I thought the police liked the idea that I was lying there in my clothes every night, holding a shotgun, waiting for people. The reality was, yes, I fell asleep in my clothes.
“But I acted on instinct. I felt under attack. That is all.”
A ballistics expert in his trial at Norwich Crown Court said evidence backed Mr Martin’s claim he was coming down the stairs when he opened fire.
Prosecutors accused him of lying in wait and shooting without warning after previous break-ins.
And they alleged Mr Martin, who had owned guns from a young age, had repeatedly threatened to blast any thieves or travellers in the lead-up to the break-in, as well as arguing he had booby-trapped his rundown home in anticipation of a burglary. He denied both claims.
It was also alleged Mr Martin had used an unlicensed shotgun and that his certificate was revoked in 1994 after he fired at a vehicle belonging to a trespasser he caught scrumping apples.
He said: “It was bloody awful the way the prosecutors treated me.
“They said I knew what I was doing in shooting them. I didn’t. I was firing a warning. I felt like they lied to the judge and the judge listened.
“I hope that wouldn’t happen to anyone again. I wasn’t overly happy with my own defence team either, who I felt let me down.”
Mr Martin was sentenced to life in prison for murder in April 2000.
His trial sparked a national debate, with some people saying he had the right to defend his property, while others were disgusted at the death of a teenager.
Months later, Mr Martin was granted an appeal, only for judge Lord Woolf to deny his freedom in 2001.
He said: “I thought I had the strongest of cases for appeal. The facts were there to uphold my appeal but he decided against it. I am still to clear my name thanks to him. He consigned me to prison.”
Mr Martin instead had his sentence reduced to five years for manslaughter and was released in 2003.
He says: “Prison was OK. I was essentially left alone, but I knew I shouldn’t have been there.
“It was very upsetting and embarrassing for my dear mother. She was a decent lady and what happened really shocked her.
“In some ways, the hardest thing was coming out and realising all of my friends were no longer there.
“My mother lived for many years after what happened and saw all I went through.”
On his release, Mr Martin lived for a spell in a car at a barn near Bleak House — which had become derelict.
PC Stephen Matthews held the Winchester Pump Action Shotgun outside Norwich Crown Court, which was used to kill Fred Barras[/caption]
