A Comparison of cultures?
Link.Myleene Klass is said to be 'aghast' after receiving a police warning for using a kitchen knife to scare intruders at her Hertfordshire home. Photograph: Richard Saker
The TV presenter and Marks & Spencer model Myleene Klass has been warned by police for waving a knife at teenagers who were peering into a window of her house late at night.
Klass was in the kitchen with her daughter upstairs when she spotted the youths in her garden just after midnight on Friday. She grabbed a knife and banged the windows before they ran away.
Hertfordshire police warned her she should not have used a knife to scare off the youths because carrying an "offensive weapon", even in her own home, was illegal.
Klass's spokesman, Jonathan Shalit, said the former Hear'Say singer was "utterly terrified" by the intruders and "aghast" at the police warning. "All she did was scream loudly and wave the knife to try and frighten them off," he told the Sunday Telegraph. "She is not looking to be a vigilante, and has the utmost respect for the law, but when the police explained to her that even if you're at home alone and you have an intruder, you are not allowed to protect yourself, she was bemused."
The warning issued to the model comes after a pledge by the Conservative party last month that they would make it more difficult for people who tackle burglars to be prosecuted.
The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, spoke out after Munir Hussain was jailed for beating a man who tied up his family in their home. He and his brother used a cricket bat to beat one of the intruders, who was left with a permanent brain injury.
A spokeswoman for Hertfordshire police said no reference was made in the Klass incident report about a weapon. She said the incident was being treated as trespass and "words of advice were given in relation to ensuring suspicious behaviour is reported immediately".
Klass, whose fiance, Graham Quinn, was away on business at the time of the scare, plans to step up security at the property, near Potters Bar.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
Link.PALMVIEW — An 11-year-old boy shot a man who broke into his home north of the city early Friday.
Three men burst into the house near the intersection of Minnesota Road and 8 Mile Line just before 12:30 a.m., Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputies said.
The child and his mother were hiding in a bedroom when the gunmen tried to force their way in. One of the men shot through the door, striking the boy in the groin area.
The child, who was carrying a .22-caliber rifle, shot back, hitting one of the criminals in the neck. The men fled the scene shortly thereafter, investigators said.
Both the boy and the injured attacker remained hospitalized Friday afternoon. Authorities said the child was in stable condition and was expected to make a full recovery.
The wounded burglar was transferred to a San Antonio hospital under police guard.
Deputies have detained two other men believed to be involved in the attack.
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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.
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The ‘Castle Law’ in Texas
Texas Senate Bill 378, which Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed into law March 27, 2007, extended a person’s right to use deadly force for self-defense beyond the home to vehicles and workplaces. The law took effect Sept. 1, 2007, and allows for the reasonable use of deadly force when an intruder is doing one or more of the following:
>> Committing certain violent crimes, such as murder or sexual assault, or is attempting to commit such crimes.
>> Unlawfully trying to enter a protected place.
>> Unlawfully trying to remove a person from a protected place.
The law also provides civil immunity for a person who lawfully uses deadly force in these circumstances. The use of deadly force is not lawful when it is used to provoke or if the victim commits a crime other than a Class C misdemeanor.
Source: Office of Gov. Rick Perry
Originally Posted by Thomas Jefferson
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