Burglar-killing farmer Tony Martin’s fortune ‘revealed’ after death aged 80 – 26 years after he killed teen, 16
Martin received a five-year sentence for manslaughter
BURGLAR-killing farmer Tony Martin’s fortune has been revealed, 26 years after he killed a teenager at his home.
The farmer, who died aged 80 earlier this month, has left behind a fortune worth about £5million.
Martin came into the spotlight when he fired an illegal gun at two intruders from his Norfolk farmhouse in 1999, killing one and wounding the other.
Following his death, questions swirled as to who would inherit his wealth.
His estranged brother, his long-term house-keeper, nieces and cousins could all be included in the will, which will be read later this year.
But according to a close relative, where Martin‘s money will end up is an ongoing mystery because of how “private” and “frugal” the farmer was.
So much so, they claimed Tony was sleeping in one of his cars at one point.
They told : “No one knows where Tony’s money will end up.
“Tony’s estate is worth around £4 to £5million and of yet no one knows where money from Bleak House and all the land he owned is going.
“He was a very frugal man and not interested in money. He had no wife, or kids and was private so no one has a clue who he left his estate to as no one was close enough to him to be privy to his will.”
The friend also revealed the farmer’s numerous quirks, including buying old cars and dumping them when they broke down.
They said: “He became known around the area for abandoning them in various places whenever they stopped working.
He was a very frugal man and not interested in money
Friend of Martin's
“He left one at his favourite pub and never picked it up.”
They added that Tony never left the house after becoming “disillusioned with the world”.
Instead, he stayed in reading history books and listening to the radio – but “lived a very interesting life.”
Martin’s actions in 1999 sparked a nationwide debate over the measures homeowners can take to defend their property, and landed Martin a five-year sentence for manslaughter.
But Martin continued to remain defiant over the death of Fred Barras – and never apologised for what happened.
Speaking to the , he said he’d visited the teen’s headstone in Newark out of “curiosity”.
He said: “I stood for a minute or so, just looked at the headstone.
“There was a picture of him on it — the same one I’d seen in the papers.’
“It wasn’t respect, no. It was curiosity.”
When asked if he felt any remorse, he said disbelievingly: “I’ve been called a ‘kiddie killer'”
But he insisted: “I did nothing wrong. I did what anyone would do.”
On whether he’d do it again, he replied: “If the circumstances were the same, yes. Anyone would.”
Martin fired three shots towards them and both fled through the window, Barras dying in the grounds.
The unremorseful farmer had told investigators he slept with a shotgun under his head after previous burglaries – and had removed the top and bottom steps of his staircase as a booby trap.
English law permits one person to kill another in self-defence only if the person defending him or herself uses no more than reasonable force. It is the responsibility of the jury to determine whether or not an unreasonable amount of force was used.
Martin was initially sentenced to life imprisonment was reduced after an appeal in October 2001 included evidence that Martin was diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder exacerbated by depression.
He was also diagnosed with Asperger’s, and on the grounds of diminished responsibility his sentence was reduced to five years.