Talk:Tony Martin (farmer)

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[edit] POV?

This really needs an NPOVing. It's written as a defence of Martin - David Gerard 09:50, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)

It should be a defence, how can you defend a criminal, if someone breaks the law, time and time again, and then they expect to be covered by it when they get shot, LOGICAL?

In any country run by real men, I'm in support of private firearm ownership, like South Africa or the U.S. we wouldn't be having this argument, we'd be spitting on the stupid burglar and be suing his family for making a mess on Martin's carpet, I'm embarrased to say I'm British when I'm abroad, it's silly, if someone comes into your house, you should shoot them until there's no life left in them.

82.14.70.99 22:24, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm giving it a go. Removing the more egregious POV stuff and correcting some points of fact and the numerous omissions. --Minority Report 21:08, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)


It's rather gone the other way.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/martin/article/0,2763,214336,00.html says he shot the vehicle of a man scrumping apples, we say (said) that he shot at children. I think we need more sourced material on this one.

12:52, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

That Guardian article is just one long character assassination! It's depressing to see a supposedly "serious" newspaper resort to these hackneyed tabloid cliches, though thankfully they stopped short of saying Martin's eyes were too close together.
It's so biased it's ridiculous - they make him sound like a cross between Dracula and Rambo. "Weird", "eccentric", and a "loner", eh? He lived in a scary house, hated thieves and gypsies? Ooh, better throw away the key!
It worked both ways, of course - many of the pro-Martin papers (Mail, et al) have carried similarly biased "profiles" of burglars Fearon and Barras. All's fair in love and newspaper sales, it seems.
It's also interesting to note that the Daily Mirror (which could hardly be described as a right-wing paper) paid Martin £125,000 for his story. This Wikipedia article seems to imply that support for Martin was limited to right-wingers - in fact, the British public (en masse) was hugely supportive of Martin and I don't think the article emphasises that enough. 217.155.20.163 22:21, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
Nowadays, the Mirror is relatively right-wing. 86.139.237.132 21:14, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Burglary trial

Darren Bark must have been released by now; do we know when? Barnabypage 16:31, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Released, then back in jail at least two more times. [1] Izaakb 16:31, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Title of page

Is Tony Martin (farmer) really the best title? After all, it's not his contributions to agriculture which are notable. I don't think there's a word manslaughterer, and Tony Martin (criminal), while accurate, might be seen as deliberately provocative. Any ideas, anyone? Barnabypage 21:11, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Ha, I was just logging on here to say exactly the same thing.FrFintonStack 17:39, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

How about just Tony Martin with a referral from Anthony Martin. If there is more than one Tony Martin, then put in a disambig page. Some people might prefer Tony Martin (hero) or Tony Martin (vermin exterminator) or any number of silly options. Since the title is merely how to identify him, how about just the name? Izaakb 15:21, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
There are already ten Tony Martins on Wiki, so this one has to be Tony Martin (something). Barnabypage 11:06, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
Good point -- all of the other Tony Martins are categorized by profession, so if this particular Tony is a farmer, then so be it. Izaakb 14:36, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bounty?

The newspapers say there is supposed to be a 60,000 pound bounty on Martin's head. Anyone know anything about this? Like who exactly is after him? Or is it just irresponsible hearsay journalism?Tragic romance 10:41, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[citation needed]Never heard of such a thing, nor in any of the news links about him. I call BS. Izaakb 16:22, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
I definately remember reading about this in a paper (probably the Daily Mirror or Mail). I think it said the bounty was put up by 'Travellers', friends of Fred Barras' family or some such. No proof of any of it, though.Xzamuel 15:05, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
Surely you can check in their archives for such a claim? Izaakb 15:22, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Barras' extended family called together a 'Kris' or Romany Gypsy council/court. There, it was decided by some senior figures in the local Gypsy community that a bounty should be put on Martin's head. Apparently the money was to be paid upon Martin's death, but I don't know where they were supposed to have got the money from... You can read about this in the chapter "Trial by Jury and Gypsy" of the book "Tony Martin: A Right To Kill", published by Artnik.