Burglar famously shot by Tony Martin says what he actually thinks about farmer 25 years on
A man was shot and wounded by a reclusive farmer in 1999 – and reflected on the incident 25 years on after the incident in an emotional four word statement, finally breaking his silence
A man shot and injured by a farmer he was burgling has finally broken his silence 25 years after the incident which claimed his pal’s life.
Burglar Brendan Fearon survived Tony Martin’s rage in the infamous 1999 shooting that did little to halt his criminal ways as he continued to re-offend. Following Martin’s death at the age of 80 last week, Fearon, now 54, spoke to the Mirror about his transformation and described Martin’s death as “sad” and “the end of a chapter”.
He empathised with the hermit-like farmer, who never returned to his property, stating, “probably suffered as much in his life as I have” following the dreadful incident at Martin’s secluded residence. “I feel for him and his family” he added.
In a four word statement, he said: “I have no anger or bitterness.” During the botched burglary at Martin’s isolated farmstead, Fearon was wounded and his teenage accomplice, Fred Barras, was killed. The event ignited a heated national controversy when Martin was convicted of murder.
However, despite still enduring “terrible pain” from leg injuries, Brendan expressed no resentment: “Life’s not been kind to me but it was much crueler to little Fred, who lost his life, and his family. But I have never felt any bitterness or animosity towards that farmer. He did what he had to do to protect himself and his home.”, reports the Mirror.
He clarified, “I’m not saying he should have shot someone dead – that’s wrong – but he felt persecuted by us and we shouldn’t have been there. His place had been robbed 10 times before and it was an easy target. I have no anger.”
Teenage burglar Fred was killed and his mate Brendan, then 29, ended up seriously hurt after they busted into farmer Martin’s pad on the Norfolk-Cambridgeshire border back on 20 August 1999. The old boy got done for murder in 2000, but his appeal knocked it down to manslaughter due to a bit of a mental struggle.
At his trial, Martin said he was just defending himself, while the prosecutors reckoned he’d been waiting for the lads. The bloke served three years behind bars and got out in 2003, leaving a legacy that tweaked the self-defence laws.
Despite everything, Martin didn’t have an ounce of regret for blasting the young lad and ditched his gaff, known as “Bleak House”, never to return. He popped his clogs last Sunday after a stroke hit him last December.
Brendan, who had a soft spot for his “good-hearted little rogue” mate Fred, found out about Martin’s ticket to the afterlife when someone dropped the news in town, saying ‘the best thing for him’ had happened. But Brendan wasn’t having any of it: “But I didn’t feel that. He’s got family and friends out there mourning his loss.”
The fella admitted, “If we’d never gone to his place he wouldn’t have committed any crime, there would have been no shootings and no killing. He wasn’t the only one to blame. But he lived to a good old age, it’s sad he’s gone but it’s the end of a chapter.”
After nearly passing away during the shootout, Brendan had to go through the works with constructive surgery on one leg, whilst still sporting a “huge gaping hole” in the other.
Despite the severe consequences of his criminal actions, which included being shot, the man’s life of crime didn’t take a back seat. Even with bullets in his body, he was regularly trading his freedom for time behind bars for a broad spectrum of criminal activities ranging from drug peddling to nicking cars.
He confessed in an stark admission: “I was a bad lad and being shot didn’t stop me! I’ve been in and out of prison over 14 years for burglary, theft, drugs, assault and stuff.”
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