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Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Perhaps we shall all get a surprise this morning and find that the Government are willing to support my reasonable proposals. The Tony Martin case captured public imagination. Regrettably, however, a threshold was crossed and the burglar was fleeing the building, possibly not with stolen property—that could not be proved—and Tony Martin ceased to be acting in self-defence and was an aggressor. The modest provisions in my short three-clause Bill set out precisely where grossly disproportionate force would kick in.