Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

Before I give way to the hon. Lady and to other Conservative Members, I want to place on record my appreciation for the way that they have brought this matter forward. We are dealing with an issue of considerable public concern. My judgment has always been that, interestingly, it is very rare for a case to become a decision for a court—normally it would be for the jury—where any reasonable person would regard it as unfair. The number of such cases that go to court are very few. In an informal trawl in 2004, the Crown Prosecution Service found 11 cases in the previous 15 where people had been prosecuted for attacking intruders, and seven of them related to household burglaries.