Self Defence

i have been told by my local police that i am legally unable to defend myself due to having the natural instinct to use excessive force..

So basically, im 19, 6ft 2"slim but toned build. Im a black belt in taekwondo and am a successful MMA fighter. Right, my neighbour is a known drug dealer and has started beef with me for some reason i am unaware of. Ive attempted to talk through the problem but he is not of the intelligent variety and cant even read or write, nevermind hold an intelligent discussion. He has been threatening me and is known to carry knives and tazers as well as other blunt weapons. Whats my legal stance if i defend myself with a gas airsoft revolver, baseball bat or combat knife?

Note that due to the excessive training i have underwent i have been told by my local police that i am legally unable to defend myself due to having the natural instinct to use excessive force to deter the opponant from being able to stand up and continue attacking. So my hands, feet, knees, elbows, and head are not an option.

So what can i actually do?

police dont make the ****ing law. They have no power to say that.

Find a way to slip him some borax.

I spoke to my solicitor on the problem and they said the same. But were unable to advise me on what i can and cant do due to the complexity of the self defence clause. Not entirely sure what i can actually do without facing charges

Your solicitor told you that you're legally not able to defend yourself?? Get a better solicitor.

Also if your solicitor can't help you, what makes you think idiots on TSR can?

Haha fair point to you. You see some good advice on here sometimes. And my solicitor never told me that, the police did. But when i asked my solicitor what i can do, they said they cant advise me and can only advise me to use reasonable force. But what is reasonable force if someone pulls a knife on you?

You're allowed to do anything reasonable to protect life and property. If someone pulls a knife on you, you're allowed to do anything you felt was necessary to protect yourself.
The idea being that you only use force that is necessary to protect yourself and your property and not continue using force after the thread has subsided.
So if someone pulls a knife on you, you can reasonably fight with him, disarm him etc.
What you can't do is take the knife off him and start chasing him down the street with it after he starts running away

Thanks mate so say for arguments sake he pulls a knife on me, is it lawfully right for me to pull one as well, or pull a gas gun/baseball bat? A weapon of equal proportion in relation to the potential injuries that could be suffered? Read it somewhere but unsure on the authenticity of the statement

Now that becomes an issue. Because if you were carrying a baseball bat, because you were expecting to fight him, that's automatically Posession of an offensive weapon which you can be charged for. I don't think the argument that you were going to play baseball is gonna stick.
Carrying a knife is even worse as you can get charged with carry a bladed article even if police don't think you were planning to use it on someone.

A common thing that happens is police catch people carrying a knife, and that's automatically posession of a bladed article,
So the police asks why they were carrying it
And the poor muppet thinks they can get off the hook by saying it was for self defence, when it actual fact, as soon as you say self defence, the charge automatically increases from possession of a bladed article to possession of an offensive weapon. Since self-defence implies an intent to use it on someone if the time comes.

So even though you probably won't be charged with assault or xBH if you were using reasonable force, you can still be charged with carrying the weapon in the first place. unlesd you can find a reasonable reason for why you would have it on you at the time.

In any case, the advice remains the same. If you get arrested, from the time you are cautioned do not say a word to the police and get yourself a good solicitor.

Thanks for advice. He usually starts outside my door as i live in a flat and he lives upstairs to the side. But the stairs come out at my door. Ive already got previous of possessuon of a bladed article and i was stupid enough to say it was for self defence. So even if i was just taking them from my house to my car and use the excuse that i was about to come the station to dispose of them when he attacked me witj a weapon. Could i possibly get away with defending myself in that situation? Because last time i used my bare hands i nearly got charged double the sentence i was expecting to get when i was caught with a bladed article? Its all very confusing and really needs updating the self defence law. Too much is left down to mitigating circumstances

I dont think that excuse of going to dispose it would fly.

What you have to understand is that self-defence as a defence should absolve you of responsibility for the assault, this is in contrast to mitigating factors which simply decreases your sentence. If you were charged, they clearly thought that it wasn't self-defence.

Ahhhh right. That explains a lot. Thanks for your help dude appreciated. Respect mate.

In addition, i was taken and held hostage in october 2017. It was mistaken identity and i wasnt the person the guys were looking for but they continued holding me anyway as they had already got in too deep with the situation. Could i use that in my defence to using excessive force against my armed neighbour? He is also know to possess firearms from time to time

Haha i would if possible. Id probably slip spmething a bit nastier. But it comes down to self defence not pre-meditated assault.

Did you report it to the police? Also report to them that he possesses firearms. Call up 101 and tell them that everyday you feel scared for your life because your neighbour might shoot you. Put on a sob story and get the police to ****ing deal with it.
Going out carrying weapons will only get you into more trouble.
Any type of backstory will be mitigating factors (reduce the sentence) but it wont get you off the hook and is not a defence.

The bottom line is that carrying any type of weapon in the UK is illegal without a bona fide reason that doesnt involve violence. It really is a sorry state of affairs

Borax is plenty nasty if you think it's cocaine.

Borax is a hell of a drug.