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Tony Martin 'felt no remorse' when visiting grave of teen he shot in 1999

Victoria Bell
Updated
Freed Norfolk farmer Tony Martin outside his farmhouse Bleak House, in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk.In August 1999 Martin, shot dead burglar Fred Barras, 16, and wounded the teenager's accomplice Brendan Fearon, 33, after confronting them late at night. Martin was released from prison last month after serving two-thirds of a five-year sentence for manslaughter.
Widely debated: Freed Norfolk farmer Tony Martin was released from prison after serving two-thirds of a five-year sentence for manslaughter

A farmer who shot dead a sixteen-year-old burglar who broke into his property ‘felt no remorse’ when he visited his grave.

Tony Martin was jailed for three years after killing Fred Barras with an illegal gun at his Norfolk farmhouse in 1999, in an incident which caused a national debate over homeowners’ rights.

Related Video: Inside Tony Martin’s Abandoned Home 20 Years Later

His conviction for murder continues to divide people twenty years on and provokes heated debate on how far people should be able to go to protect themselves and their property.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the 74-year-old described how he stands by what he did on the night, claiming to be acting in self-defence and believes he does not ‘have to excuse himself for anything’ and believes the law still falls short in protecting householders defending their homes.

Freed Norfolk farmer Tony Martin outside his farmhouse Bleak House, in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire In August 1999 Martin, shot dead burglar Fred Barras, 16, and wounded the teenager's accomplice Brendan Fearon, 33, after confronting them late at night. Martin was released from prison last month after serving two-thirds of a five-year sentence for manslaughter. 01/10/2003: Millions of worried householders are prepared to do a Tony Martin and take the law into their own hands to defend their families and homes, according to a survey out on 01/10/2003. More than 82% of Britons polled would take the law into their own hands to defend their property and family if burgled, according to the poll. And in a separate survey, 66% of women said burglars should have no rights and only 2% felt it should be illegal to attack an intruder.
Burglary: Martin, here outside his farmhouse Bleak House, shot dead burglar Fred Barras, 16, and wounded the teenager's accomplice Brendan Fearon after confronting them late at night

On ‘that fateful night’ on the 20th August 1999, Brendan Fearon, 29, and Fred Barras travelled from Newark in Nottinghamshire to raid the home, aptly named Bleak House in Norfolk, where Martin stored antiques.

Martin awoke to hear noises coming from downstairs and came down from an upstairs bedroom

Realising he had intruders, he opened fire with an illegal shotgun into the darkness, shooting Barras in the back and injuring Fearon, who managed to make a getaway.

Barras died at the scene.

He has since visited Barras’s grave out of 'curiosity'.

‘I was up in Newark at the Midlands Show and there is a huge cemetery there. Well, Mr Barras is there, buried up the far end. It’s quite hard to find.

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The stairs in 'Bleak House', the farm owned by Tony Martin, where 16 year old Fred Barras was shot dead while robbing the house. Farmer Tony Martin is living at a secret address after 60,000 was offered to have him killed. * His barrister, Mr Anthony Scrivener QC, said Martin was under police protection, and jurors heard that the farmer had been advised not to return to his home. Details of the threats against Martin's life emerged as Mr Scrivener questioned Detective Sergeant Peter Newton, one of the officers involved in investigating the shootings.
Abandoned: The stairs in 'Bleak House', where 16 year old Fred Barras was shot dead
A Police officer walks around the grounds of Tony Martin's farm in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk. Martin was released from custody after serving two-thirds of his five-year jail sentence for shooting dead a 16-year-old burglar and wounding his accomplice. * A Prison Service spokesman said he was released from an undisclosed location, adding: "He is now a free man."
Crime scene: A Police officer walks around the grounds of Tony Martin's farm
Peacocks outside Tony Martin's farm in Norfolk. Martin declared that his Norfolk farmhouse no longer feels like home after spending three years behind bars for shooting dead a teenage burglar, it was reported today. The farmer originally said he was delighted to be back at Bleak House in the village of Emneth Hungate and reunited with his faithful dog, Rottweiler Otto. Police officers stationed at a mobile unit outside Martin's home were keeping a round-the-clock watch on the farmhouse, which is still boarded up and in a serious state of disrepair. Martin was freed on licence on July 28 after serving two-thirds of a five-year sentence for manslaughter. Fred Barras was shot in the back and killed, and his accomplice, Brendan Fearon, was wounded when they raided Martin s home in August 1999. Four years later, Martin returned home in the early morning and a statement pinned to a gate showed the farmer was putting on a brave face, confronted by the delapidated state of his home.
Not home anymore: Peacocks outside Tony Martin's farm in Norfolk. Martin spent three years behind bars

‘There was a man there and I asked where I’d find him and he showed me. And there he was. Then he left me there.’

‘I stood for a minute or so, just looked at the headstone. There was a picture of him on it — the same one I’d seen in the papers.’

‘I didn’t feel anything. I just stood there, totally removed from what I was looking at.

‘I did think about how everything is of our own making, though. And that applies to him.’

He still believes, vehemently, that he did the right thing. ‘I did nothing wrong,’ he insists. ‘I did what anyone would do.’

He was convicted of murder, but the sentence was later reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The case split a nation over the rights of homeowners to defend themselves, many said that Martin had the right to defend his home and property but prosecutors argued he had anticipated the pair and lay in wait for them.

In Martin's case, they successfully argued he had used excessive force in shooting both burglars in the back as they climbed out of a window.

While in custody, he was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome.

He spent three of his five year sentence in prison and was released in 2003.

He has also told of how he has not been in Bleak House since the ordeal as he feels it is 'tainted'.

54-year-old farmer, Tony Martin arrives at Kings Lynn Magistrates court, accused of the murder of a suspected burglar. Mr. Martin, of Bleak House farmhouse, Emneth, Norfolk, was remanded in custody for eight days by magistrates. * Martin was accused of murdering 16-year-old Fred Barras and causing grievous bodily harm to 29-year-old Brendon Fearon. 7/9/99: Judge David Mellor freed Martin on conditional bail in a 30-minute hearing behind closed doors at Norwich Crown Court. Martin is due to be released from Norwich Prison and has been ordered to appear before Norwich Magistrates *10/01/2000 - The two men convicted of conspiring to burgle the home of farmer Tony Martin will be sentenced. Brendan Fearon, 29, from Newark, Nottinghamshire, and Darren Bark, 33, of no fixed address both pleaded guilty to plotting to steal from Tony Martin's isolated farmhouse in Emneth, Norfolk. Martin, 54, is accused of the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Fred Barras, a market trader, on August 20 1999. 24/08/1999: Tony Martin, who has been found not guilty of attempting to murder Brendan Fearon and cleared of the charge of possessing of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The jury was still considering charges against him of murdering Fred Barras, 16, and wounding with intent. The judge at Norwich Crown Court told the jury he would accept a majority verdict on the two charges. 15/04/03 Martin was said to be 'terrifically relieved' at news that a damages bid by the burglar he shot had failed. Malcolm Starr, who has led the campaign for Martin's freedom, said the farmer now wanted the law changed to prevent such a situation arising again.Mr Starr said Martin's lawyers had contacted him to say that a planned legal action by burglar Brendon Fearon had failed.
Fateful night: The farmer who shot dead a sixteen-year-old burglar who broke into his property ‘felt no remorse’ when he visited his grave

He said: 'Everyone has been in except me. When it all happened, it was tainted. Violated'

Martin still owns the building, which has a police cone outside and is now shrouded in ivy, but relies on the kindness of friends to give him somewhere to sleep.

However he feels people are ‘getting fed up’ of putting him up.

He still believes that on that fateful night he 'did nothing wrong.'

In Channel 4 programme The Interrogation of Tony Martin which aired in 2018, he insisted that he would do the same thing all over again.

The same year, an urban explorer captured creepy footage which he claims was taken inside Martin’s abandoned former home.