Clause 1 - Amendment of the Criminal Law Act 1967
Criminal Law (Amendment) (Householder Protection) Bill
10:15 am
Mr Patrick Mercer (Shadow Minister (Homeland Security), Home Affairs; Newark, Conservative)
My hon. Friend encourages me, as he does know my wife.
Having said to my wife to take that action, I asked her to explain why she would not. She said, “I am quite clear about this. No matter how the law is framed at the moment, no matter whether we have to prove reasonable or unreasonable force, I know quite well that if I pick up the riot baton that you used with such effect in Northern Ireland during many tours over there and use it on an intruder, I will, at best, face many months of investigation. I will be arrested, I will go to court and I will have my life thoroughly disrupted.” During subsequent conversations, we discovered that it was extremely unlikely that she would receive a sentence—not impossible, but unlikely—but her opinion was reinforced. She said, “I absolutely will not confront an intruder because I know that I will be tacitly punished.”
Clearly, this is all theoretical. Practically, let me cite the case of Mr. Charlie Mayall from York drive in Newark. An intruder came into his property, and he thumped that intruder with a piece of wood. After five months of investigations and four court appearances, and after being handcuffed and taken to the police station in Newark, he was eventually told that there was no case against him and not enough evidence to prosecute him. Proposed new subsection (1A)(b) would not ensure that that sort of thing ceases entirely, because every case will have to be investigated, but the number of people who go through that informal, unintentional punishment would be reduced dramatically.
On Second Reading, there was some to-ing and fro-ing between the Minister and myself about the investigative work done by several newspapers. The Crown Prosecution Service demonstrated that there had been only 11 prosecutions in 15 years. I do not want to argue that case, although the analysis was flawed, and the CPS went on to say that its list was never accurate. However, it does not account for people such as Mr. Charlie Mayall who suffer at the hands of the law, not because they are eventually found guilty and sent to prison, but simply because the process as it stands is too cumbersome and is weighted in favour of the intruder and the burglar, not the householder and the shop owner.
We have therefore clearly and simply introduced the proposal that such cases would be brought before the Attorney-General, one of our most senior law officers and an eminent lawyer, so that he or she can decide which cases go to trial. That would have several effects. First, it would reassure the public. It is in line both with the introduction of the phrase “grossly disproportionate”, which brings criminal law into line with civil law, and with our endeavours, through the Bill, to reassure the householder. People would feel much more certain that they could deal with intruders without necessarily having to go through a painful process of legal ins and outs before being dismissed by a judge and jury.
Secondly, the proposal would ease the burden on the police force. I come from Nottinghamshire and I am acutely aware of the overstretched resources of my constabulary. I do not want to rehearse a completely different argument, but we have few enough policemen in my county to deal with the problems that we face. If the clause lessens the burden of investigation that falls on them, that will be a good thing.
Lastly, the Crown Prosecution Service is also busy. If we can lessen the number of cases with which it has to deal, it will be able to concentrate on serious matters and will not have to impose on the police to carry out needless investigations that end up, more often than not, wasting time and imposing stress.
The issue is very simple. I understand exactly the point made by the hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Harry Cohen), but a line needs to be drawn in such cases, not by the Crown Prosecution Service or the Director of Public Prosecutions, but by the Attorney-General. Despite the quotations that others and I gave from the Attorney-General, I have absolute respect for that gentleman and I am absolutely certain that if his judgment is brought to bear, the number of cases will be lessened considerably. If that is the case, it will be good for the people, good for the police service and good for the whole criminal law process, but it will be thoroughly bad for any burglar or intruder who gets involved in such an incident.