Britain Used To Exile Criminals to Australia

Now they exile decent people there.  A couple of career criminals broke into a couple's home.  The husband had a shotgun, and shot them.  Of course, he was arrested first for causing great bodily harm, then the charge was raised to attempted murder--and finally, shockingly enough, the prosecutors decided to drop the charges and even more shockingly, the judge sentencing the robbers told them that they would not get leniency because of what happened.  From the September 26, 2012 Telegraph:

O’Gorman and Mansell appeared at Leicester Crown Court where they were both jailed for four years after admitting burglary.

In a move welcomed by justice campaigners, Judge Michael Pert QC, told the pair they could not expect any leniency simply because they had been wounded in the incident.

He told them: “If you burgle a house in the country where the householder owns a legally-held shotgun, that is the chance you take. You cannot come to court and ask for a lighter sentence because of it.”

Wonderful, right?  Not quite.  The victims concluded that it was no longer safe to stay in Britain.  From the September 26, 2012 Telegraph:

Andy Ferrie, a businessman, and wife Tracey have left Britain to escape the “living nightmare” which has haunted them since their arrest a month ago.

Today two men were jailed for four years each for the burglary.

Hazel Towell, mother of Mrs Ferrie, said goodbye to her daughter on Saturday before the couple left the country.

She said: "The burglary was the final straw. They’ve just packed up and moved as far away as possible.”

Mrs Towell, 63, a retired shop worker from Burton-on-Trent, Staffs, said: “They feared for their safety and revenge attacks from the burglars and their families if they stuck around.”...
Mr Ferrie's step-father Andy Spilner from Uppingham, Leics, said yesterday: “Andy and Tracey have gone to Australia. They went at the beginning of the week and won’t be coming back after what happened.”

Mr Spilner s told how his other son had received threatening phone calls, which he has reported to police, just moments after the court case ended.

I can't say that I blame them.  He spent 40 hours in custody for shooting people who broke into his home, and briefly had to worry about attempted murder charges.