IN all the furore surrounding the release from prison of Tony Martin we must not overlook some salient points.

They are that a teenager was killed after being shot in the back by Martin. He was found guilty of murder by a jury of his peers, but the conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal on the grounds of diminished responsibility and the sentence cut to five years.

Reports, therefore, that Martin is to receive about £100,000 for selling his story are cause for grave concern.

Despite the folk hero status he has been given in some quarters, Martin is a convicted criminal and should not be allowed to profit from his crime.

Those who are paying him will find it difficult to demonstrate the legitimate public interest in doing so.

There is understandable sympathy for Martin. His home was the repeated target of habitual burglars. He feared for his safety and his life.

But our criminal justice system was right not to accept that it is within the bounds of reason for the victim of crime to shoot indiscriminately at criminals. The conviction of Martin for manslaughter remains entirely sound.

Society cannot tolerate someone taking the law into their own hands. Vigilante justice must be resisted at every turn.

Martin has served his punishment and should be allowed to return quietly into his community. But the lure of personal financial gain and the willingness of those with an axe to grind against the criminal justice system to latch on to his case have ensured that his first days of freedom will be surrounded by very public scrutiny.

The case of Tony Martin does not warrant a change in the law.

It was not the law which let down Martin, but the law enforcement procedures which allowed his home to be broken into on so many occasions and allowed habitual burglars like Fred Barras and Brendan Fearon the freedom to continue their young lives of crime virtually unfettered.

Had the police and the courts done their duty, Tony Martin would still be living in complete obscurity in his ramshackle Norfolk farmhouse.