I'm not a shooting man, says Martin

Killer farmer Tony Martin shocked students at the prestigious Oxford Union when he claimed he was "not a shooting man".

Martin was taking questions at the debating society just months after ending a jail sentence for the manslaughter of teenage burglar Fred Barras.

He defended blasting the 16-year-old to death with a shotgun at his isolated farmhouse in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, but then said Barras had not deserved to die.

Union members were warned not to boo, hiss or heckle Martin, who served two-thirds of his five-year prison sentence and was freed in July. But there were gasps in the packed debating chamber when, in reply to a question about why he had an unlicensed firearm, the 58-year-old said: "I am not a shooting man."

He added: "I myself do not enjoy shooting. But I have had access to guns all my life."

Martin denied feeling regret about the shooting, saying: "I do not really see how I can be responsible for the actions of other people.

"You shouldn't have to fear being in your own home or have to fear the law."

Describing how he felt the night of the shooting, he told the Union he had been "terrorised".

He said: "It may sound a bit dramatic but if you have ever watched a Hitchcock thriller, he couldn't have done any better. I felt very vulnerable that evening. I couldn't understand why they were breaking into the house when they knew I was in there. I just happened to be in my own house, is that a crime?"

During more than an hour's tough questioning, he was asked if Fred Barras had deserved to die, and replied: "No."

But when asked if that meant that it was right that he should have been punished with jail, Martin said "No" again.

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