Cottage owner takes law into own hands

Press, 5 March 1987, Page 7

Cottage owner takes law into own hands

By

ROBIN CHARTERIS

in London

A Hampshire cottage owner could face prosecution for shooting a man after his home was raided for the seventeenth time.

Jim Iddenden, a builder, took the law into his own hands when he heard an intruder on the roof of his restored cottage at Steep Marsh, near Petersfield.

He had already lost more than $9OOO worth of roof tiles. This time he let fly with both barrels from a light shotgun. Seconds later, a man jumped howling into a car and fled. Hours later a

soldier limped into a local hospital to have pellets removed from his bottom and leg. The police, who are interviewing the man and his companion, have told Mr Iddenden he could face charges, including assault. The law allowed people to use only a reasonable amount of force to defend themselves or their property, said a police spokesman. Mr Iddenden, who said he deliberately aimed low at the intruder and used light shot, said: “There’s only so much a person can take. It was the seventeenth time I was raided.”