A controversial US self-defence instructor banned from entering the UK today urged Home Secretary Theresa May to re-think her decision to exclude him.
Tim Larkin, who advocates a "kill or be killed" approach to self-defence, was prevented from boarding a flight to Britain last May on the grounds that his presence was "not conducive to the public good".
It followed claims that he was inciting vigilantism through plans to hold a series of seminars in areas hit by last year's riots.
However Mr Larkin said today his approach was no different from that of Prime Minister David Cameron who last week announced plans to offer greater legal protection to householders who used violence against burglars.
"It is really the exact same situation that I have been training people to deal with ever since I started to train people in the UK," he told journalists at Westminster via a weblink from his home in Las Vegas.
"I am really at a loss as to why, if that is the case with the Government, I am facing an exclusion order right now. I think there has been a huge mistake."
Mr Larkin, who is now seeking a judicial review of Mrs May's ruling, denied that he had ever sought to incite vigilantism.
"Anybody who even took a cursory look at my history would know that that's nothing that I have ever advocated, nor have I ever publicly caused any disturbances," he said.
