Quote Originally Posted by keithAngel View Post
The test is generaly what is reasonable to protect your life and propety loosing your silver is not considered giving reason to kill

Nothing wrong with chasing a burglar to make an arrest but at that point you are required to use minimum force and you can not claim self defence except in responce to what is actualy happening in the moment.

If for example you were carrying your trusty mag-light as it was dark and the arrestee attempted to use a weapon to resist you then on the principle of "instant arming" you could use the torch as a defensive weapon going equipped with a cricket bat might however allow the perp to claim self defence and you would leave yourself open to prosecution.

Reasonable force also depends on the relative differences between the parties so a small women might use a weapon against a large man wereas a large guy trying to defend against a 16 year old would have a different level that might be deemed reasonable.

All escalations need to be proportionate is the key and being angry is not of its self a defense
Cameron is just trying to grab a headline, as you say in your first paragraph The test is generaly what is reasonable to protect your life and property or in legal terms “unreasonable force” and Cameron want's to "limit prosecutions to cases involving grossly disproportionate violence".

Cases like the recent one of Munir Hussain who chased the burglar,attacked him with a cricket bat and brain damaged him and the case of Tony Martin who shot the burglar when he was running away would both still fall outside the law and would still result in prosecutions if you used the yardstick grossly disproportionate violence instead of unreasonable force.
Iain.