sbp
09-15-2002, 12:38 AM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-411040,00.html/
A FATHER-OF-TWO who stabbed a “career criminal” to death with a bread knife after finding him burgling his family’s home was found guilty of manslaughter yesterday.
Barry-Lee Hastings, 25, shook his head and fought back tears as an Old Bailey jury cleared him of murder but found him guilty of killing Roger Williams.
Hastings, who was remanded in custody to be sentenced next month, faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Amid cries from his family in the public gallery, Hastings shouted “look after the kids” to his estranged wife Nicola.
She replied “love you” before he was led away to the cells.
The prosecution claimed that Hastings had overstepped the mark and “meted out his own form of punishment” when he stabbed Williams 12 times, mostly in the back. Hastings insisted that instinct took over. He believed that he was protecting his children, a boy of four and girl of two, and their mother. He later discovered the family was not at their home in Tottenham, North London.
The case has drawn comparisons with the jailing of Tony Martin, 57, who shot dead Fred Barras, 16, as he burgled his home in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk. His life sentence was later cut to five years and the conviction reduced to manslaughter on appeal. Malcolm Starr, from the Tony Martin Support Group, said that Hastings should never have had to face a jury.
“Anybody who enters your property should do so at their own risk and the person who owns the property should be allowed to defend it however he sees fit,” Mr Starr said. “Who can predict what effect fear will have on any one person?” The jury of six men and six women found Hastings guilty of manslaughter on a 10-2 majority verdict after 13 hours of deliberation.
Williams, 35, who had many criminal convictions, including some for violent offences, was wanted by police. He had carefully selected the property where Hastings’s wife and children live.
Hastings, a gas engineer from Wood Green, North London, told the court that when he visited the home in January, he found the front door had been forced.
He picked up a bread knife “to scare” the intruder who was upstairs. But, when they came face to face, Williams charged down the stairs and appeared to attack him with a machete, he claimed.
No machete was found, but the court was told that Hastings may have mistaken a jemmy that Williams was carrying that he had used to force entry to the home.
A struggle ensued during which Williams was repeatedly stabbed. Hastings suffered a hand injury. After the fight spilled outside, Williams staggered away.
Hastings said he panicked and threw away the blood-stained clothing and knife after realising that he might have injured Mr Williams and be in trouble.
The court was told Williams had suffered 12 wounds, three of which were potentially fatal. One knife blow penetrated the heart. He died on the way to hospital.
After the brawl, Hastings discovered that his family was staying with relatives. He said that he had intended to call the police before the fight, but he feared that his children were in danger. “I thought I heard my daughter crying,” he said. “I thought I heard men’s voices. I thought someone had the children up there. I thought something was happening to them. I decided to help my family and scare whoever was there off. I never intended to stab anyone.”
Peter Kyte, QC, for the prosecution, told the jury: “The law recognises a man is entitled to defend himself, his family and his property only if his action does not go beyond the reasonable and the necessary.
“There is no doubt Mr Hastings stumbled across a burglary. There is no doubt that Roger Williams was a thoroughly bad hat in the eyes of the law. But, as a human being, he is just as entitled to the freedom to live as anyone else. We argue that, in this case, alas, this man overstepped the mark and went some distance beyond that.”
Outside the court Nicola Hastings said: “It’s wrong. There’s no justice.” Anthony Branley, solicitor for Hastings, said an appeal would be launched. “We are shocked by the jury’s verdict in this case,” he said.
“In our view, the evidence clearly showed that Barry-Lee Hastings at all times acted in self-defence when attacked by an armed burglar who had a long history of burglary and violence and who was on the run from the police at the time of this incident.
“Most people will recognise that the verdict today represents an appalling miscarriage of justice and flies in the face of common sense. We shall do everything possible to ensure that this conviction is quashed on appeal.”
John Davies, Williams’s cousin, said: “Despite Roger’s previous background, he was entitled to a fair trial like Mr Hastings. It is a tragic case.”
Hastings, originally from Glasgow, has a conviction for burglary and police cautions for carrying a knife and causing actual bodily harm.
A FATHER-OF-TWO who stabbed a “career criminal” to death with a bread knife after finding him burgling his family’s home was found guilty of manslaughter yesterday.
Barry-Lee Hastings, 25, shook his head and fought back tears as an Old Bailey jury cleared him of murder but found him guilty of killing Roger Williams.
Hastings, who was remanded in custody to be sentenced next month, faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Amid cries from his family in the public gallery, Hastings shouted “look after the kids” to his estranged wife Nicola.
She replied “love you” before he was led away to the cells.
The prosecution claimed that Hastings had overstepped the mark and “meted out his own form of punishment” when he stabbed Williams 12 times, mostly in the back. Hastings insisted that instinct took over. He believed that he was protecting his children, a boy of four and girl of two, and their mother. He later discovered the family was not at their home in Tottenham, North London.
The case has drawn comparisons with the jailing of Tony Martin, 57, who shot dead Fred Barras, 16, as he burgled his home in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk. His life sentence was later cut to five years and the conviction reduced to manslaughter on appeal. Malcolm Starr, from the Tony Martin Support Group, said that Hastings should never have had to face a jury.
“Anybody who enters your property should do so at their own risk and the person who owns the property should be allowed to defend it however he sees fit,” Mr Starr said. “Who can predict what effect fear will have on any one person?” The jury of six men and six women found Hastings guilty of manslaughter on a 10-2 majority verdict after 13 hours of deliberation.
Williams, 35, who had many criminal convictions, including some for violent offences, was wanted by police. He had carefully selected the property where Hastings’s wife and children live.
Hastings, a gas engineer from Wood Green, North London, told the court that when he visited the home in January, he found the front door had been forced.
He picked up a bread knife “to scare” the intruder who was upstairs. But, when they came face to face, Williams charged down the stairs and appeared to attack him with a machete, he claimed.
No machete was found, but the court was told that Hastings may have mistaken a jemmy that Williams was carrying that he had used to force entry to the home.
A struggle ensued during which Williams was repeatedly stabbed. Hastings suffered a hand injury. After the fight spilled outside, Williams staggered away.
Hastings said he panicked and threw away the blood-stained clothing and knife after realising that he might have injured Mr Williams and be in trouble.
The court was told Williams had suffered 12 wounds, three of which were potentially fatal. One knife blow penetrated the heart. He died on the way to hospital.
After the brawl, Hastings discovered that his family was staying with relatives. He said that he had intended to call the police before the fight, but he feared that his children were in danger. “I thought I heard my daughter crying,” he said. “I thought I heard men’s voices. I thought someone had the children up there. I thought something was happening to them. I decided to help my family and scare whoever was there off. I never intended to stab anyone.”
Peter Kyte, QC, for the prosecution, told the jury: “The law recognises a man is entitled to defend himself, his family and his property only if his action does not go beyond the reasonable and the necessary.
“There is no doubt Mr Hastings stumbled across a burglary. There is no doubt that Roger Williams was a thoroughly bad hat in the eyes of the law. But, as a human being, he is just as entitled to the freedom to live as anyone else. We argue that, in this case, alas, this man overstepped the mark and went some distance beyond that.”
Outside the court Nicola Hastings said: “It’s wrong. There’s no justice.” Anthony Branley, solicitor for Hastings, said an appeal would be launched. “We are shocked by the jury’s verdict in this case,” he said.
“In our view, the evidence clearly showed that Barry-Lee Hastings at all times acted in self-defence when attacked by an armed burglar who had a long history of burglary and violence and who was on the run from the police at the time of this incident.
“Most people will recognise that the verdict today represents an appalling miscarriage of justice and flies in the face of common sense. We shall do everything possible to ensure that this conviction is quashed on appeal.”
John Davies, Williams’s cousin, said: “Despite Roger’s previous background, he was entitled to a fair trial like Mr Hastings. It is a tragic case.”
Hastings, originally from Glasgow, has a conviction for burglary and police cautions for carrying a knife and causing actual bodily harm.