Defender thefts rise

[mad_pete]

so you set the air bag off distracting them and they then cause a massive motorway pile up ? Or the police are in the process of recovering the vechile and the air bag takes them out instead ? Or the air bag goes doesn't go off for the next owner in an accident because the wiring has been altered ?

[Farmerfred]

I think that 'reasonable force' can be widely interpreted, if someone comes at you with a knife and you break his arm with the shovel that you happen to be holding is that action reasonable? I would say, and probably so would most, that it was, people put in certain situations will react instinctively. The problem is that we are now living in an age where the perpetrator has more rights than the victim, if they have no respect for other people and their property then why should we have any respect for them but unfortunately you risk being sued if you injure a thief or even if in the process they injure themselves. 'I didn't put those upturned spike harrows below the fence that the burglar jumped over your Honour, honestly!

[mad_pete]

I think catching them in the act is very much the exception.

[dailysleaze]

If you guard your house with spikes as a deterrent against thieves then that's reasonable.

If you guard your house with spikes intending to hurt thieves and gain some satisfaction, then that's seeking to dish out your own punishment and is not reasonable and therefore illegal.

That's the distinction that they have to prove in a court of law: intent. If you set out with the intention of harming someone then that's premeditated. If you react to an unforseen situation with violence then as long as it's proportionate it's fine.