A court decision which will see farmer Tony Martin sued by the burglar he shot and injured was last night condemned as outrageous.

Career criminal Brendon Fearon, 33, won the right to sue Martin for a reported £15,000 damages for wounds he received during a break-in at the farmer's home in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, in August 1999.

A judge at Nottingham County Court yesterday declared Fearon was entitled under the Human Rights Act to a full hearing and sent the case to the Royal Courts of Justice.

Conservatives immediately demanded a change in the law and campaigners for Martin said the decision was a disgrace. His MP, Tory Henry Bellingham, said: "I am absolutely appalled. I feel very strongly that no criminal should have any right after he has broken into a property - all legal rights should be left outside the property that was burgled.

"It is outrageous that a convicted burglar should get legal aid to pursue a civil case."

Mr Bellingham, who represents North West Norfolk, yesterday wrote to new Cabinet Minister Lord Falconer, demanding a change in the law.

And Conservative home affairs spokesman Dominic Grieve said: "There is clearly an imbalance in the law between householders and burglars. We strongly disagree with the fact that burglars can sue for damage done to them in the course of committing a crime."

Malcolm Starr, a friend and campaigner for Martin, said: "This is disgraceful and means yet more public money will be wasted on this claim.

"How can the law allow this to go on? It means that a burglar who was injured trespassing on another man's property and is sent to prison can then have the cheek to sue him for damages.

"Public opinion must be at boiling point, people will be gobsmacked that the law can be so wrong."

But a spokeswoman for human rights group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said it was right for Fearon to have the chance to go to court.

"Brendon Fearon is a convicted criminal and is, quite rightly, serving time in prison," she said.

"That does not take away his right to seek compensation for the injuries he suffered.

"It is for the courts to decide on the validity of his claim."

As well as injuring Fearon, Martin shot dead his accomplice, 16-year-old Fred Barras, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, and is currently serving a jail sentence for manslaughter.

At Nottingham County Court yesterday, District Judge Brian Oliver overturned an earlier decision which threw out Fearon's claim.

Fearon has more than 30 criminal convictions.

But the judge said that to deny him his right to his claim could contravene his rights under Section 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is enshrined in British law under the Human Rights Act.

Article 6 provides for the right to a fair trial.

The judge said: "I conclude that it is proper I grant the relief that the claimant seeks."

He added: "I have to take the view that there are important issues here that need to be determined and that it would be wrong, subject to other considerations, to deprive the claimant from airing his claim and having a full trial."