Britons support Indian shopkeeper who killed assailant

Font Size -

Agencies

Posted online: Monday , February 25, 2008 at 08:02:04
Updated: Monday , February 25, 2008 at 08:21:41

London, February 25: An Indian-origin shopkeeper in the UK who could face murder charge for killing his assailant in self-defence should be rewarded for bravery and not prosecuted, many Britons feel.

In discussion boards and letters to editors, several people have called Tony Singh a "local hero" and expressed support for him. They believe he should be given a bravery award for grappling with his assailant who had a history of criminal acts.

Singh, 34, who owns a shop in Skelmersdale in Lancashire, was leaving for home after closing his shop last Sunday when he was attacked by a hooded man who tried to rob him.

During the struggle to defend himself, Singh took possession of the robber's knife, and in the scuffle, the assailant, identified as Liam Kilroe, died after suffering a stab wound in the chest.

Police said they were preparing a report for the Crown Prosecution Service, which will decide whether to charge Singh, who was also injured during the fight, over the death.

A posting on a Lancashire discussion board said: "The man should have a medal pinned to his chest - not having the thought of imprisonment looming over him. It appears he was simply protecting himself in a life and death struggle. I have not one ounce of pity for the criminal." Roger Moreton, from Warwickshire, wrote: "Far from being prosecuted, or even arrested, the plucky shopkeeper Tony Singh, should be given a bravery award."

The current law permits people to use "reasonable force" to defend themselves and others. Critics claim it is weighted in favour of the criminal.

Singh, who required hospital treatment for knife injuries to his neck and back, has been quizzed by detectives from Lancashire Police's Major Incident Team.

The case is likely to re-open the debate about householders being allowed to use force to defend themselves and their properties. Singh said that he feared he could have been killed in the encounter.

Bookmark this Page

What is this?

Digg

On Digg, users share intersting online content by submitting links to the site. At that point, the Digg audience can vote on whether or not they think it is interesting. Articles with lots of votes, or "diggs," rise up higher on the site's main page and topical subsection pages. Another form of social sharing, this site also lets users categorize the content they are submitting to Digg and label it with descriptions of up to 350 characters. Digg users can also submit comments on each content item submitted to the site.

To register, go to: http://digg.com/register

del.icio.us

At its most basic level, del.icio.us allows users to save their bookmarks online. Del.icio.us also gives users the ability to "tag" their bookmarks with descriptive category names. For example, someone who has bookmarked multiple Web pages that deal with the Washington Nationals baseball team could tag those links with any terms they want, like "baseball," "nationals," "natsfan," etc.

As members of a "social bookmarking" community, del.icio.us sers can also see how many other people have bookmarked the same pages, and they can look at those users' bookmark collections to find other interesting online content.

To register, go to: http://del.icio.us/register

Reddit

Reddit allows users to submit news articles and other online content to the site. Users also give articles a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Reddit then uses those votes to build a user profile and to find articles to recommend to you. Users can also submit comments on items posted to the site.

To register, go to: http://reddit.com/login

Digg

My Yahoo

Fark

del.icio.us

Newsvine

Rate this Article

Rating

Post Comments

Name*		Email ID*
Subject*		Country*
Message*	Characters remaining

TERMS OF USE: The views represented here are not neccesarily endorsed by www.expressindia.com and its allied websites. All messages will be moderated and no message that has inflammatory, abusive, derogatory language or any language deemed unfit for publication by the editor will be displayed. Though it will be endeavoured that as many messages as possible be displayed, there will be time lag between the submission and publication of the messages. The website reserves the right to publish or reject any message.

I agree to the terms of use.

Comments - 3

Hide Comments

Show Comments

Whats "Reasonable" by Concerned on 26 Feb 2008

Does anyone remember the UK police chasing down and killing that innocent Brazilian? they shot him in the head 7 times (by no definitions "reasonable" force) , no one was punished for that. How come this shopkeeper is being punished?

Reply | Forward | Report Abuse

Dare-devil TONY SINGH by col ss chauhan on 25 Feb 2008

This is an exemplary case as model for the Insian society to learn a lesson from such thoughtful population ,recommending an award for the bravery shown by the victim of the assault but accused of murder.Tony singh deserves a pet on the back "shabash".

Reply | Forward | Report Abuse

how much force is enough to justify ensuring survival by Banta on 25 Feb 2008

Simple facts:1. if someone uses deadly force against one, then what should one do.2. apply deadly force as a lesser amount of force will not work best in this situation3. what is the outcome of deadly force: it is well known- either a person will die or be gravely hurt, and if this result is not produced, then the amount of force by definition can not be deadly especially in hand to hand, or low tech fighting.Is the law wrong or wrongly worded. NO, as it protects against misuse by criminals, mutilation of body, and collateral injuries to other uninvolved persons could occur such as in gunfire. 4th point to remember: do not expect an easy exit even from a life and death encounter, even if one survives. Law will be grilling the survivor even if non-agressor. It is both good and bad. In India it can be even worse, with corruption at so many levels.

Reply | Forward | Report Abuse