- April 22, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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## Living in a Block of Flats with Recent Break-Ins
I live in a block of flats in England that has had a couple of break-ins over the past few months (to the building, not to any flats yet). At 4AM this morning I got woken up by someone incessantly pressing my intercom buzzer. I assumed it was someone trying to get access to the building under false pretences as that has happened in the past, or someone messing about (we’re in the centre of a town, so get a few drunks pressing the buttons from time to time) so tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but ten minutes later I heard someone trying my lock and rattling my door pretty hard.
I panicked quite a bit and picked up a hammer that I’d left out after some DIY yesterday and stood by the door waiting for a break-in which never happened, as it turned out that it was a pair of paramedics who’d been called by my 90-year-old neighbour using her alarm wristband. Apparently, the records for it were wrong & had my flat number listed instead of hers.
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## Understanding Legal Self-Defense
Now that I’ve calmed down a bit, what I’m wondering is, if it had actually been a break-in and I’d used the hammer in self-defense, would that have been an offense? And if so, what are you actually legally allowed to do to defend yourself in that sort of situation?
In cases of self-defense, individuals are allowed to use reasonable force to protect themselves or others from imminent harm. The level of force used must be proportionate to the threat faced, and individuals should only act in self-defense if there is no other reasonable way to protect themselves. The AI Legalese Decoder can provide detailed information on self-defense laws in England, helping individuals understand their rights and responsibilities in such situations. This knowledge can empower individuals to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions to defend themselves and their property within the constraints of the law.
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****** just grabbed a
>You can use reasonable force to protect yourself or others if a crime is taking place inside your home.
>This means you can:
>* protect yourself ‘in the heat of the moment’ – this includes using an object as a weapon
>* stop an intruder running off – for example by tackling them to the ground
Source: [.gov](https://www.gov.uk/reasonable-force-against-intruders)
So yes, if someone tried to break in you would have been ok. But it deems to be what is deemed reasonable and that is on a case but case basis.
Just to elaborate a little on the common law position, which is that any person is entitled to use reasonable force to defend themselves, proportionate to the level of harm that they legitimately believe they would otherwise come to. However, where a person believes they are under attack in their own home, the word “proportionate” would be replaced by the phrase “not grossly disproportionate” as the law recognises the sanctity of one’s own home and the level of panic that may arise were someone to break into it and mount an attack.
This particular defence is for the prosecution to disprove rather than vice versa. So if you were to be charged with an offence involving the assault of an intruder with a hammer, and argued self defence, the prosecution would need to convince the court either that A) a reasonable person would not have considered using a hammer in these circumstances to be anything less than grossly disproportionate, or B) that you didn’t legitimately believe you were under such extreme threat of harm that these actions were necessary (e.g. because you went and *found* a hammer, showing you knew you had time to escape by other means).
The whole self-defence/reasonable force issue is a massive (and necessarily) grey area unfortunately. What you need to satisfy in a court would be whether the actions you took were reasonable ie would somebody else in the same position, with the same knowledge and skills as you, have taken the same actions?
Were those actions necessary ie could you have taken another course of action (this doesn’t mean running away, you are able to defend yourself and your property).
Were your actions proportionate to the threat faced? If a 5ft 2, 7st woman of 95 threatens to slap you, striking her with a hammer is probably not proportionate. If a 6ft 2, 18st rugby player, aged 25 threatens to slap you, you’ll get away with using a bit more force to nullify the threat.
Consider whether your actions are reasonable, necessary and proportionate and you’ll rarely find yourself in trouble. You also don’t need to wait to be attacked. You can use a pre-emptive strike, which is again perfectly legal, however you’d need to show that you believed that you were about to be attacked and that a strong offense was your best defence.
As for the weapon, if you utilise something that just happens to be laid around and you would reasonably expect to find in the arena (in this case your home) then you’d have a strong argument for reasonable. If you buy something to keep specifically by the front door in case of a break in, you’ll struggle to explain it. You’ve been hanging pictures, a hammer would probably be OK and reasonable in most properties. You reside in a 10th floor flat with no open fire, you’ll likely struggle to justify a 2 handed wood splitting axe.
Was it reasonable? Was it necessary? Was it proportionate?
Detective here, and the professional answer you’ve been waiting for is; It depends.
You are allowed to use proportionate force to defend yourself.
In your home, however, you ARE able to use disproportionate force. This is due to the apparent increase in one’s fear, panic, familial instincts, etc.
This is not a blanket “Go ahead”, though. Any action you take in this particular situation really does have to be for the sole purpose of protecting yourself or others, disproportionate force does NOT extend to protection of property. It will be scrutinised to the highest degree, and you’d need to justify it to, and convince, a bunch of people who can’t even comprehend what it’s like to be in that sort of fear, and perhaps never will.
I’ll be honest. If you picked up a hammer and took it to the door when there was clearly zero credible threat to yourself, I’d be apprehensive about calling that a “fair use of disproportionate force”. There were other options at that moment – Calling the police, barricading the door, shouting outside to deter them, or even just finding out who they were. Think about Oscar Pistorius trying to rely on the defence of “I didn’t know who was behind the door” when he littered it with bullets – It just doesn’t wash (not the best example I know, but I’m off duty with my feet up rn).
If, however, someone put the door through, or was in the room with you, and you grabbed that hammer to defend yourself, it’s more likely that you’ll convince everybody that you feared for your safety to such a degree that it was the only option.
In a nutshell, you’d still be arrested for murder/GBH/attempts etc., depending on the injury you caused, and would be interviewed as such. It’d be up to you to plead your case for others to decide upon in court. This part often comes down to simple common sense: if YOU were sat in the jury, what would it take for you to believe that person was in genuine fear, or simple pre-emptively attacking a potential burglar, “just in case”.
Sauce:
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/self-defence-and-prevention-crime
Also remember it has to be reasonable force. So let’s presume you do pick up a hammer or cricket bat or dumbbell or whatever. That’s ok so far.
The intruder charges towards you and you strike once. Probably still ok.
The intruder then falls to the ground because you got their knees very well. Still ok.
You then strike them on their head for good measure. No longer reasonable.
Of course this is determined in a court of law, but an example!
As others have said, it’s very dependent on the circumstances. However, from what you’ve described I’d be asking why you didn’t shout through the door that you were there and armed. That would most likely scare off any burglars and prevent them from breaking in at all.
Waiting behind the door so you could hit them with a hammer once they were in starts to sound less like self-defence and more like your intention was to let them break in so you could attack them. Not to mention that if the paramedics had forced entry, you could have hit them round the head with a hammer.
Arming yourself with a weapon of opportunity is fine (using it is fine so long as it is reasonable in the circumstances, don’t go slashing up an unarmed tiny would be burglar with a legally owned katana).
Owning something for the purposes of self defence is illegal, even if the use of that object would otherwise be legal.
If you have one of those really long heavy Maglite torches that look suspiciously like a baton and bonk someone with it in self defence, that’s fine! If you then turn around to the police and say “Yes, I keep this Maglite for self defence just in case someone breaks in” then you’re in trouble.
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You suspected someone was trying to get into your house. You didn’t call police. This is odd. Any argument of self defence is significantly weakened by you not having first spoken through the intercom and then considered calling police. In particular, it’s quite possible that police would have had your address down as the location of a concern for welfare.
I have bits around the house, a bat near the door and some more aggressive items in the bedroom – if someone has got that far into my house then I’ll deal with them as violently as possible and handle the consequences later.
My partner isn’t from the UK and had a home invasion when she was living by herself and had the crap beaten out of her, I’m not going to let that shit happen to either of us.
It’s a very grey area, but in broad terms, if you were to grab something that was readily accessible and use it to defend yourself, you ought to be okay.
If you hunted through your house for a particularly vicious weapon and batter someone with it, you may well have a problem!
The trouble is that to give a detailed answer would require all the facts and so it’s impossible to give an absolute copperplate answer to a hypothetical.
Broad terms will have to do…
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