Exclusive pictures show Tony Martin’s dilapidated Bleak House Farm being cleared out – as sources reveal the 12-month saga surrounding his £5m fortune is due to be resolved
Killer farmer Tony Martin’s dilapidated home is finally cleared as his £5m fortune is set to be carved up and dished out.
Our exclusive pictures show junk piled up outside the abandoned farmhouse where he shot dead burglar Fred Barras, 16, with a pump action shotgun in 1999. Published exactly 12 months after Martin’s death, the images show scrap metal, discarded filing cabinets and rusting farm machinery stacked neatly outside the notorious Bleak House property.
It comes as solicitors continue to unpick his assets as they work with executors to finalise his last will and probate. The Mirror understands part of his estate – farmland in nearby Westry March, Cambridgeshire – will likely be passed to a family member. Martin inherited the “freehold orchard” from his mother, Hilary, when she died in 2011 aged 93.
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But – in documents uncovered by the Mirror – her dying wish was that it be given to her granddaughter in the event of Martin’s death. A source said: “Martin’s estate is extremely complex. He has property, land and assets all over the world, so the team of solicitors have a huge job trying to understand how to distribute it.”
Martin died from the effects of a stroke more than 25 years after shooting two intruders and becoming a hero to householders worried about burglars and rising crime. Barras died at the scene at Bleak House in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, on August 20, 1999, but accomplice Brendon Fearon, then 29, survived.
Martin claimed he was acting in self defense after previous burglaries at the isolated farm but was jailed for murder. He was freed three years later after the case was reduced to manslaughter but vowed never to set foot inside Bleak House again.
Since then the property has fallen into disrepair, with ghouls and vandals raided the site. Last year 24-hour CCTV and gates were installed at the estate after thieves broke into a barn next to Bleak House. Martin’s beloved 1975 Range Rover was vandalised and stripped for parts, but it has now been sold.
Martin’s estate, said to be worth up to £5million, includes 350 acres of land around Bleak House, property in Australia and a fleet of cars. He had no partner or children but his estranged brother, long-term housekeeper as well as nieces and cousins may be beneficiaries of his will.
After Martin’s death, Fearon broke his 20-year silence to tell the Mirror he bore no malice towards the farmer who had left him injured for life. He said: “I have no anger. He did what he had to do to protect himself and his home.”
The 54-year-old also revealed he was sad to hear that Martin passed away and told how the shooting initially did nothing to deter him from a life of crime. But he insisted he has become a reformed character who dotes on his family.
Martin was convicted of murder, which sparked a nationwide debate about the law on self-defence. Brendan, who is still in terrible pain from the wounds to both his legs – with a gaping hole in one – said of his death: “I feel for him and his family. Life’s not been kind to me but it was much crueller to little Fred, who lost his life, and his family.
“But I have never felt any bitterness or animosity towards that farmer. 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.”
Brendan was told Martin had died by someone who said it was “the best thing for him”. But he added: “I didn’t feel that. He’s got family and friends mourning his loss. 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. He lived to a good old age, it’s sad he’s gone but it’s the end of a chapter.”
