Father faces jail for killing a burglar

A father of two faced jail at the Old Bailey today for killing an armed burglar he feared was endangering his children in the family home.

Barry-Lee Hastings, 25, stabbed career criminal Roger Williams 12 times in the back and the back of the head after the intruder charged at him with a crowbar.

Hastings was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter on a 10-2 majority.

He was refused bail by Judge Brian Barker who remanded him to Belmarsh maximum security prison pending sentence on 4 October. As he was led to the cells he told his sobbing wife Nicola: "Tell the kids I love them to bits."

Williams, 35, had a record of burglaries dating back to 1983 as well as violence.

Hastings told the jury he had armed himself with a kitchen knife after finding the front door of the Tottenham flat broken down.

In the dark he thought the burglar was about to attack him with a machete and had struck out in selfdefence.

The jury's verdict echoes the fate of Norfolk farmer Tony Martin who was convicted of murder for shooting an unarmed teenage burglar. Martin's conviction was reduced on appeal to manslaughter.

Gas engineer Hastings, of Wood Green, who has a conviction for burglary, is separated from his wife the court heard.

Outside court a weeping Nicola Hastings said: "It's wrong, there is no justice."