Martin's dog is moved for protection (Crooks have "contract" out on it)

The Telegraph - UK ^ | 31/07/2003 | David Sapsted

[David Hunter]

Tony Martin's most precious possession, his dog Otto, was moved to a secret location yesterday hours after it was claimed that travellers planned to kill it.

A newspaper reported that a £5,000 "contract" had been put out on Otto, the only one of Martin's three Rottweilers to survive since he was jailed.

The dog had been moved from Worcestershire to kennels in Lincolnshire shortly after Christmas. Yesterday morning, it was taken to another, secret address.

"Mr Martin was tremendously upset by the suggestion people were out to kill his dog," said Malcolm Starr, the farmer's closest friend. "They haven't been reunited but I expect they will be in the next couple of days."

Travellers were said to have put a price on the dog's head in revenge for the shooting by Martin, 58, of Fred Barras, 16, during a burglary at his farmhouse in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk.

*A report in early editions of yesterday's Telegraph stated that Tony Martin was being guarded by representatives of ITN and a national newspaper. ITN has asked us to point out that none of its news outlets is offering any payment for an interview with Martin. We apologise for the error.

[David Hunter]

Here's an interesting quote from here:

Ishmael Steele, Barras's cousin, who lives on the same road in Newark where Barras grew up, said Martin would be killed. "He will get it. Something will happen to him, it's got to..."

Another cousin of Barras, who gave his name as Georgi, said the travelling community had recently put a £60,000 bounty on Martin's head.

"He is a dead man. I don't know if it will be a traveller that will do it, but it will be a proper hitman, a professional job," he said.

I'm getting sick of these scumbag relatives and criminal associates ("travellers") of Fred Barras. Now I'm not a violent man by nature, but the more I hear about these people, the more I'd like to give them a taste of their own medicine. I think it would be poetic justice if someone out there did us a service by posting the addresses of these people on the internet, so that if something should happen to Tony then those behind it would find out what it feels like to need Police protection. I suspect that the threat of a little "rough justice" might be just what is required to deter these thieving bastards; since the UK "justice system" has succeeded in sending out all the wrong messages to the criminal fraternity.

[Elliott Jackalope]

What are "Travellers"?

[Paul Atreides]

Gypsies. They must be like that lowlife woman who was beating her kid senseless in the SUV a few months ago.

[Elliott Jackalope]

Oh, OK. I got it. The new "politically correct" name for Gypsies. Thanks for the info.

[David Hunter]

"Traveller" is a politically correct term for a gypsy, although it applies more broadly to include new age travellers too.

[wideawake]

Travellers or Pikeys are groups of bums who go from place to place in groups stealing things and scamming people out of money. They're called Irish Travelers in the US and Tinkers in Ireland.

One of them was caught on tape last year savagely beating her child in a parking lot.

They speak their own slang, are generally related to one another and are kind of like white gypsies. Brad Pitt played one in the movie Snatch and Bill Paxton and Mark Wahlberg starred in a movie about the group called Traveller.

They're the scum of the earth.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

Or as my friend, who’s a policeman in the North of England, refers to them "filthy thieving gypsy bastards".

[tracer]

Perhaps dear Giorgi and Ishmael should be taught the meaning of the term "pre-emptive strike".....

[wideawake]

They don't have addresses - the best you would be able to do is get the license plate of the stolen car they're using this week.

[theDentist]

"They're the scum of the earth."

What? When did the Clinton's lose that ranking?

[Murtyo]

I think these are Gypsies. Travellers, what the Brits sometimes call Pikies usually have Irish sounding names, these folks appear to have more exotic names!

[dennisw]

travelers bump

[wideawake]

It wouldn't surprise me if the Clintons (not their real name) came from that strain.

[Murtyo]

I think you're wrong here. This group don't appear to me to be Irish Travellers. Not sure either that, whoever they are it's fair to call the whole lot of them "scum of the earth" though I wouldn't disagree that SOME of them are very scummy

[MEGoody]

"by posting the addresses of these people on the internet"

They probably don't have addresses. Isn't 'travelers' a politically correct name for gypsies?

[dasboot]

Their messin' with the dog: NOW we'll see some pissed-of libs.

[David Hunter]

They don't have addresses - the best you would be able to do is get the license plate of the stolen car they're using this week.

Yes, due to their accommodation arrangements the travellers aren't good targets for the threat of public retaliation. However, the cousins of Barras and their close relations are probably in on the death threats against Martin, so fingering them might deter the people who plan to do the deed.

[redheadtoo]

What are "Travellers"?

They are not gypsies, nor are they a politically correct name for gypsies. They are a seperate group. The Travelers are decended from British immigrants. They are divided into three main groups the Irish Travelers, the Scotish Travelers, and the English Travelers.

Like the gypsies they move about the country committing scams for money. Their favorite trick is home repair scams. They claim you need an expensive repair then don't do the work or do some slipshod work with inferior materials (i.e. they say they are going to repave your drive way and then just pour old motor oil all over it.)Of course they disappear quickly with your money.

[redheadtoo]

They probably don't have addresses. Isn't 'travelers' a politically correct name for gypsies?

Actually they live in very nice house in their own communities. The trouble with posting addresses is that the Travelers often have the exact same names. In a traveler town half of the men will be officially named John Murphy. They have private names that they use among themselves to differenciate between several hundred men named Murphy.

[David Hunter]

You're probably right the lefties are likely to have more compassion for Martin's dog than they have for him. In their eyes he is just a horrible old vigilante who took the law into his own hands and ought to have moved out to live in a less secluded place.