Homeowner who maimed burglar walks free

Awais Hussain (C), son of Munir Hussain, flanked by his family's solicitor Razi Shah (L) speaks to the media outside the High Court in London January 20, 2010.

LONDON (Reuters) - A businessman who was jailed for savagely attacking burglars who broke into his home and threatened his family was freed on Wednesday.

Munir Hussain 53, had been sentenced to 30 months for grievous bodily harm with intent after he hit Walid Salem with a cricket bat in September 2008. But at the Appeal Court, Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, and two other judges overturned the sentence, replacing it with a two-year suspended term, the Press Association reported.

Hussain and his wife and children had returned from their local mosque during Ramadan to find intruders wearing balaclavas in their home.

He feared for their lives as their hands were tied behind their backs and they were forced to crawl from room to room.

The businessman made his escape after throwing a coffee table and enlisted his brother, Tokeer, to help chase the offenders down the street in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, bringing one of them to the ground.

What followed was described at Reading Crown Court as self-defence which went too far, leaving intruder Salem with a permanent brain injury after he was struck with a cricket bat so hard that it broke into three pieces.

Lord Judge said: "This trial had nothing to do with the right of the householder to defend themselves or their families or their homes.

"The burglary was over and the burglars had gone. No one was in any further danger from them."

He added; "This is not, and should not be seen as, a case about the level of violence which a householder may lawfully and justifiably use on a burglar.

"So far as both these appellants was concerned, the purpose of their violence was revenge -- to teach at least one of the burglars a lesson... such violence is not lawful..."

But he said he was showing "mercy" to Hussein.