Thursday, September 09, 2004

Amazing: U.K. farmer who shot suspect burglar is not charged: "A 72-year-old farmer who shot a suspected burglar will not face criminal charges. Kenneth Faulkner was arrested after shooting in the leg a 22-year-old man he thought was breaking into a garage at his remote farm near Ockbrook, Derbyshire, in the early hours of Aug 6. He had been burgled twice in the three weeks before the incident and fired his shotgun as the intruder was fleeing. Mr Faulkner and James Rae, the suspected burglar, were arrested but yesterday Mr Faulkner, who was released on bail, was told the Crown Prosecution Service had decided there was insufficient evidence to take him to court. ... Yesterday the decision not to prosecute Mr Faulkner was welcomed by Malcolm Starr, who campaigned for Martin's release. He said: 'The fundamental thing is that common sense and decency has prevailed in this case. But I don't think the CPS should put people under this kind of pressure.'"




EVEN GANG-RIDDEN L.A. SEEMS SAFER THAN LIFE IN ENGLAND

Now that guns are almost all banned in Britain

"ROBBIE WILLIAMS fled Britain frightened for his life after finding two bullet holes in a window of his home. Robbie wasn't in the house in Notting Hill, West London, when the shots were fired but he was staying in the country. The world knew he had just signed a œ30million record deal and he became paranoid that he could become a target for kidnappers. He was also scared by the sensational Beckham abduction plot that had made headlines at the time.

A pal of Robbie's told me: "He was in London when the shooting happened and it really shook him up. He didn't say anything to those around him until a month later but privately he was completely freaked out. The more he thought about it the more he realised what a target he was. With a huge record deal behind him he was an easy mark for anyone wanting to make some money out of him. He had also had some nutty letters in his time and it crossed his mind that this could be an obsessed fan telling him to watch out. He joked that at least with all the photographers outside his house, if someone shot him they would probably be caught on film."

Robbie fled his home country within weeks of discovering the bullet holes in a frosted front window of the luxury pad he shared with his pal, telly presenter JONATHAN WILKES. That was two years ago and he now has the place on the market for œ7million. Robbie has since settled for a high-security lifestyle in America. He is now protected behind gated walls at his new house in a posh suburb of Los Angeles. As he is not as well-known in the US Robbie feels he is less liable to attract the sort of unwanted attention that he so feared at home".

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