It's OK.

While blogs and newspapers debate the crime statistics, here's a little anecdote that has been going around up here in the Fens.

A farmer who lives a few tens of miles from Tony Martin heard voices in his house one night. He was alone. So he called the police.

"There's nobody in your locality," the operator told him. "Lock yourself in your bedroom."

The farmer thought about this for a minute, then called back.

"It's OK," he said. "I've shot him."

There was a police car there in ten minutes.