Quote: In a slightly different vein: Suppose the victim happens to have an umberella or urban walking stick (cane) in hand and thrashes the attacker a bit with that "legitimate" object. Do you have any indication what action, if any, the government may/has taken to punish the victim for defending himself? I'm very interested in hearing a knowledgeable reply from you or any others in the UK. I am not interested in any sort of debate of whatever the current situation may be.


Depends on the situation. Relative no of attackers, relative ages etc etc. I do know of one case where 2 old men (one ex-SAS the other RAF Regiment) were attcked by 6 youths who tried to rob them. They beat them with their walking sticks (both walked with a limp) so badly that the thugs pressed for the police to charge the old men with assault. The police let the old men go and charged the youths.

Its all relative. If someone attacked you and you used any implement at all to beat them off. You were both relatively fit males, he was injured by you at all and you were unscathed. Then you will almost certainly be charged with assault. (has happened). If two guys with knives attack you and you take a stab wound first then you would be entitled to a lot more leeway. Friend of mine took a stab wound and then retaliated,(with a baton taken off of one of his attackers) the least injured of the 4 attackers had his jaw wired together and a couple of broken ribs. The attackers were charged with assault and friend wasnt. Its open to the interpretation of the police or whichever judge and jury hear your case basically.

UK law does not allow use of any objects legitamately by default. If you pick up an object and hit someone with it then you have used an offensive weapon (UK law does not recognise the existance of defensive weapons - they are all offensive).