The fact that he had a gun is neither here nor there. He could have killed him with an icecream scoop, what difference does that make?

Quite a big one. He shot a 16 year old kid in the back and killed him. Had he thrown an ice cream scoop at him, the kid would still be alive now, and Martin wouldn't be in gaol.

He defended himself and his property. He'd been robbed many many times before and the Police were sod-all help. He was at the end of his tether and desperate. When faced with a scary situation, he responded.

He shot burglars in the back as they were running away. At that point it should be obvious that his life and his property are no longer under immediate threat. It is irrelevant how many times he had been burgled in the past - or how much use the Police had been in the past. He had already scared them off before he shot them.

He has shown regret that the situation arose, but not that he killed him. Quite right, see above.

He killed a 16 year old kid. Ok, that kid didn't appear to be a particularly nice kid. But he was still a kid. Somebody's son. Shot in the back.
So this guy regrets that the situation arose but not that he killed a 16 year old kid by shooting him in the back? I think he's regretting the wrong bit.

Your points...

1) True. But it was not murder, and he should be paroled by now. The only reason he's not been paroled is because he hasn't said sorry. Why should that be?

As Bitt mentioned above, parole is for *early* release, that has to be earned. His sentence was already reduced from life to 5 years because it was determined that manslaughter was the more appropriate charge.

2) See above, it makes no difference

Of course it does. You cannot choose which laws to follow. Oh, I like this one, no problem. Hmm, I don't like this gun law thing, I'd better ignore that.

3) He may have been wrong to kill him, but he should not be in prison now.

Yes, he should be on the streets.

Well, I'm not about to suggest that I'm in a better position to decide that by reading the news online than the judges who get to review *all* the evidence. If you do the crime, be prepared to do the time.

Yes, I'm sympathetic to his burglary problems. And I could understand that the heat of the moment got to him and that he shot the kid (even in the back) out of fear. But he doesn't even appear to care, and that is worrying.