What the law says you can legally do to protect yourself if someone breaks in during lockdown

But if it happens to you - heaven forbid - then what can you do?

What the law says in the UK

According to GOV. UK, the UK government's official legal advice is as follows:

"You can use reasonable force to protect yourself or others if a crime is taking place inside your home.

"This means you can use reasonable force to 'protect yourself ‘in the heat of the moment’"

* But there’s no specific definition of ‘reasonable force’ - it depends on the circumstances.

In short, the more fear you felt, or more extreme you felt the danger was, the more force you can legally use to defend yourself or someone else. If a crime occurs inside your home, you will be able to call on the heightened defence for homeowners, which gives you more legal protection to use force, as long as the force is not grossly disproportionate.

If you only did what you honestly thought was necessary at the time, this would provide strong evidence that you acted within the law, says Gov.uk

Do you have to be attacked first?

You don’t have to wait to be attacked before defending yourself in your home, says Gov.uk

However, you could be prosecuted if, for example, you:

* carry on attacking the intruder even if you’re no longer in danger

* pre-plan a trap for someone - rather than involve the police

Can you chase after an intruder?

Yes, you can stop an intruder running off - eg tackle them to the ground, which would likely be considered reasonable force, says the CPS.

What if the intruder dies?

It may still be classed as reasonable force - or it may not. It depends on whether the action taken in the first place was reasonable force. The CPS states:

"The final consequences of a course may not be relevant to the issue as to whether the force used was reasonable. Although, the conduct of the suspect resulted in severe injuries to another or even death, this conduct may well have been reasonable in the circumstances. On the other hand, the infliction of very superficial or minor injuries may have been a product of simple good fortune rather than intention."

What if an intruder is in the garden?

The law permits use of a reasonable force to defend yourself or another person from a crime. However, the heightened defence for an intruder inside your home only applies if the intruder enters your home or is on the threshold, e.g. within a doorframe or windowframe.

The CPS states:

Householders are only permitted to rely on the heightened defence for householders if:

"1) The are using force to defend themselves or others. They cannot seek to rely on the defence if they were acting for another purpose, such as protecting their property, although the law on the use of reasonable force will continue to apply in these circumstances.

2) They are in or partly in a building or part of a building (e.g a flat) or is forces accommodation. For these purposes, the definition of a 'building' includes vehicles or vessels, so that people who live in caravans or houseboats can benefit from the heightened protection.

"The term 'in or partly in a building' is used to protect householders who might be confronted by an intruder on the threshold of their home, climbing in through a window perhaps.

"But householders cannot rely on the heightened defence if the confrontation occurred wholly outside the building, for example in the garden. The Government considered that the immediacy of the threat posed by an intruder is greatest when he is entering or has entered somebody's home and the heightened defence is only available to householders in those cases."

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. These are challenging times but the team at the Yorkshire Evening Post need your support more than ever in the weeks ahead.

While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you - wherever possible and providing it is safe for you to do so - to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Inevitably falling advertising revenues will start to have an impact on local newspapers and the way we continue to work during this period of uncertainty. So the support of our readers has never been more important as we try to make sure that we keep you connected with the city you live in during this time. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. We need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Our team of trusted reporters are working incredibly hard behind the scenes - from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms - to look at how we can do this and your continued support to the YEP will help to protect its viability in the days and weeks ahead.

For more details on our subscription offers please visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk/YEP, email [email protected] or call us on 0330 4033004

Thank you

Laura Collins

Editor