78 year old arrested for murder

Yes I agree Iam. The poor victims cannot return to their home for fear of reprisals. The act of setting up a shrine nearby is a provocative act. Given the wording of some of the tributes praising Vincent as a good, decent person He was a career criminal who with the extended family preyed on the vulnerable elderly in the most despicable way. I do wonder why the police haven't the powers to remove all the tack there's a subliminal "marking their territory message" in there. No doubt a very over the top funeral will follow.

There are various photographs and articles on line about flowers and tributes to the dead burglar being pinned to fences outside the home of the Osborn-Brooks. The burglar's family arrived and set up a shrine. Neighbours asked Police to remove the flowers and were told the Police didn't have powers to do that.
Overnight, the neighbours have removed everything. What an absolute nightmare for the couple who were burgled. I have sympathy for their neighbours as well because it seems the dead burglar's extended family are far from law abiding and may seek revenge.

I believe this poor man and his wife are now under police protection as there have been death threats from the family
They will probably never be able to live at their home again a matter of minutes has changed their lives for ever

I don’t know if the deceased mans family come up to Norfolk to visit Walsingham. The travellers came to show us what good Christians they are.
Walsingham shuts down everything it can when they arrive.
Last year they expanded their Christian behaviour to Cromer. It was just lovely, residents, holidaymakers and the police had a wonderful time.

I believe the miscreant's relative was a cousin who said "The Henry I know was such a loving person and it's probably something which just went wrong, but he shouldn't have died out of it" I remember seeing this interview a couple of nights ago, she, the cousin had her back to the camera and the slack jawed BBC reporter left that statement unchallenged, maybe just a little interjection of "well what was he doing breaking into a house armed with a screwdriver, doesn't sound very loving" would have been a welcome observation. It annoyed me that she was given a platform to defend someone, relative or not, who we now know was a heartless, career criminal.

The Times has reported some of the crimes Henry Vincent and his wider family have inflicted on elderly people in the Kent area, distraction burglaries, building scams that earned them more than 1 million. One poor elderly lady was persuaded to sign over her house worth £150,000 having already handed over her £28,000 life savings. Vincent was also jailed for charging a pensioner £72,000 to replace one roof tile. Some of the family boasted on Facebook how they had robbed a war veteran of his medals with the comment "The old bastards deserve everything they get so stupid handing over thousands upon thousands"

I just hope the victims Mr Osborn-Brooks, who is no doubt traumatised, and his wife can get on with their lives without fear of reprisals. Their house has now been boarded up, maybe for the time being, but I guess they will go back there eventually.

This deceased criminals family can bleat on about how he fell in with the wrong crowd all they want
I think it was a case of being born into the 'wrong family' as they all sound like wrong 'uns according to the press. That would include the sister who must be fully aware of the criminal activities of her male relatives even if she doesn't participate herself.

Caramac. I was surprised that the late miscreant's sister chose, and was allowed, to go on national tv saying positive things about her brother. I understand that his family might have good memories of him but can't see what she was trying to achieve.

Juggernaut I salute you!
Nobody uninvited has a right to be in your house terrorising you. If he hadn't been IN his HOME then he would be alive wouldn't he???
I feel very sorry for the poor wife who clearly was frightened beyond her wits and then had to cope with her husband being removed by the police for two days!
This deceased criminals family can bleat on about how he fell in with the wrong crowd all they want, it won't change the facts he was was a grown man in his 30s with a long career in skullduggery! ?

Justice for this poor man.

Why they ever handcuffed him I don’t know.

No charges are to be brought, according to tonight's news.

I’ve been reading about the boarding up of this couples home and the installation of CCTV. I wonder if they will ever be able to go back. Difficult times for them.

IMO the burglar was scum and I’ve no pity for him. His behaviour was (obviously criminal) particularly nasty and I’m sure the (real) victims were terrified. I hope the old couple are able to get over this horrible event in their lives. The burglar was a victim of his behaviour only. As for his relatives saying he was a decent bloke......erm well decent people don’t burgle houses and threaten pensioners.

What quizqueen said

No charges will be brought but the poor mans home has now been boarded up due to fears he will be targeted

That is good news indeed.

I’ve just read that the police are taking no further action on the elderly man.

Just heard on BBC that the police have said no charges will be brought against this gentleman. Some good sense at last!

Bluebell - it said on News (Radio 4) yesterday that the householder had used a knife, and that they were in the kitchen when the burglar was stabbed - I assume that he just snatched up a knife to defend himself.

Jaycee 5 - if the dead burglar comes from a criminal family, I guess the elderly couple will have to move. If the family know where they live, there will always be the threat that they could seek revenge. What an upheaval for the poor couple at their age! Such a shame.

Just heard that no further action is to be taken against the elderly gentleman who defended himself.

In my opinion, if every criminal met a well deserved sticky end the country would be a far better place as our legal system and police seem rubbish nowadays in dispensing adequate and fair justice for the victim. It would save the country a fortune in prison and court costs too.

According to the papers the burglar was a serial offender, almost all his crimes involved conning elderly people out of money. He and several uncles and his father were cowboy builders and cheated one man out of £72,000 to replace one tile.

Altogether an unpleasant piece of work. I will not say he deserved it, what he deserved was a long spell in prison, but if you go out to break into someone's house, especially armed with a screwdriver, which can be just as dangerous as a knife, while not attracting the long sentences that knife crime entails, and I bet he did that deliberately, then you must take what comes, and in this case someone protected themselves from being stabbed by his screwdriver, by stabbing him with a knife.

As for the relative, as coming from a family of cheating conmen and thieves. If they, as a family, had brought the deceased up to be decent and honest and earn an honest living then he wouldn't have been in someone's house in the middle of the night threatening violence.

Acanthus have you ever been burgled in the middle of the night. We have, adranalin kicks in and survival mode takes over. Luckily for us the burglar had escaped the property.

Yes, I saw the relative interview last night, these people live on another planet. Should have been ashamed to be interviewed on TV no shame these days.

Probably not Ellie. Some people just don’t get it!

I heard an interview with a relative of the burglar saying what a nice person he was and totally blaming the elderly man. Can’t she see that if he hadn’t been burgling the house and terrifying people it wouldn’t have happened.

I'm assuming it's tongue in cheek and again that made me smile which is somewhat of a relief in the midst of the awful topic of this thread.
Yes Kim, it was tongue in cheek in response to another post