A gardening contractor who left one thief with two broken legs and rugby tackled another has been cleared of causing grievous bodily harm.
Andrew Woodhouse, 44, from Govilon, Monmouthshire, was woken at about 00:30 GMT in March 2013 by a text message telling him a burglar alarm had gone off at the tyre yard where his business is based a mile from his home.
Dressing quickly, he drove to the yard and confronted burglars Kevin Green and Timothy Cross. In an ensuing fight, he tore something ‘like a fence post’ from Kevin Green’s hands and swung it at him, breaking his arm and both legs.
He then gave chase to Timothy Cross, rugby-tackled him to the ground, called the police and sat on him until they arrived.
He was astonished to be charged with causing grievous bodily harm and faced a prison sentence.
James Wilson, prosecuting, described Mr Woodhouse’s actions as an “unreasonable and unlawful assault”.
He said: “It was not reasonable self-defence. Mr Woodhouse lost his temper and went over the top.
“He is a hard working businessman but he has let his frustration get the better of him. He lost it.”
The court heard how Mr Woodhouse gave police a full account of how he fought with the two raiders like a “mad man”.
But barrister Andrew Taylor of 30 Park Place Chambers in Cardiff, defending Mr Woodhouse, said: “These thieves thought they would have nice easy pickings that night.
“Many people would have given up and just claimed on their insurance but Mr Woodhouse is made of sterner stuff.
“He showed stoicism, courage and fitness to chase them.
“One of the men was armed and went to attack him. He acted in lawful self defence.
“He agrees the red mist came down which you can understand when his business has almost been wiped out by crime.
“If it hadn’t been for him these men would not have been caught. Where are we in society when a person cannot act in self-defence to protect his property? That is what Mr Woodhouse was doing.”
The jury took just 20 minutes to acquit Mr Woodhouse.
Green and Cross were fined £75.00 each for theft last year.
The Bible says:
Exodus 22:2 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. 3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.
We read there of restorative justice rather than a fine from the state but firstly of a principle that those who break in and enter property at night take their lives in their hands. In the daytime it is easier for a householder to see what is going on, and take proportionate action, but not so at night. Most burglaries happen at night (some will say that burglary is by definition at night) because the hours of darkness provide cover for evil deeds, as Jesus said when he was arrested in the garden by night:
Luke 22:53 When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
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Does this mean, then, that if a youth steals an expensive car, perhaps from its garage, and smashes it up so it is worthless, he has to pay back the value of the car ? But if he has nothing like enough money, he has to be sold into slavery ?
Yes. You have some better idea?
Should thieves and hooligans be forced into hard servitude until they have paid back what they stole or destroyed? What an excellent idea! No wonder God thought of it first.
“Sold into slavery” isn’t the same as “work with wages going to the creditor UNTIL”.
I think the thief sold in Exodus 22 would have no more hope of an end to this agreement than Joseph had, when sold in Genesis 37 . Of course Joseph did do very well out of it in the end, but he was never a thief and his case was exceptional.
Glad and also very shocked at this verdict in Britain where the criminal is king