Exclusive:
Brendan Fearon was injured by killer farmer Tony Martin, who was “looking down” on the trespasser and his friend from a tree when he shot them at his Norfolk farm in 1999
A former burglar who was shot by a farmer while trespassing on his property has told how he thought he would die alongside his 16-year-old friend.
Brendan Fearon, 55, was one of two would-be thieves who entered Bleak House, a property in Emneth Hungate, near Wisbech on the border of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire owned by Brit farmer Tony Martin and used to store antiques, in an attempted raid on August 20, 1999. The then 29-year-old entered the home alongside Fred Barras, 16, and were caught by Martin when they tried to escape.
The farmer, who had armed himself with a pump-action shotgun, fired shots at the pairs backs as they attempted to flee, killing Barras and wounding Mr Fearon in both legs. The now reformed former criminal has spoken out following Martin’s death earlier this week, telling how he thought he would die at the hands of the then 55-year-old farmer.
Brendan, now 54, relived his escape while speaking with the Mirror, recalling the moment he started “rolling across the ground” before pulling himself up on his wounded legs and getting help. He said: “I thought I was going to die but I kept thinking of my kids and I had to get to safety.
“I was rolling and walking and zig zagging across the place, it seems I had gone a mile up the road when I came to a house. I was gasping for breath and banging on the windows saying ‘water, water’, and an elderly couple then helped me. They turned on a hose pipe in the garden and I put it to my mouth while they called the ambulance.”
Brendan added that he “had no idea” his young friend had died from his wounds, saying he later found out that Martin had shot at the two from atop a tree. He continued: “At the time I had no idea poor Fred was dead. The farmer didn’t raise the alarm, he left me to my own fate. I deserved that.
“I later found out he had climbed up a ladder and had been at the top of a tree looking down on us and where he shot his gun at us.” But, more than 25 years after the incident, and 20 years since giving up his life of crime – for which he spent 14 years behind bars – he doesn’t blame Martin for what he did.
He added: “It must have been scary for him with intruders, he’d been done so many times before, so you can’t blame him.” Martin, who died on February 2, was charged with murder following Barras, but this was later downgraded to manslaughter and wounding with intent. He served three years behind bars before he was freed in 2003.
