Farm where Tony Martin shot and killed teenage burglar given green light to develop four new homes

Published: 00:39, 20 August 2026 | Updated: 00:44, 20 August 2026 Dilapidated barns on the farm where Tony Martin shot and killed a teenage burglar have been given permission to be converted into homes, a council has ruled. West Norfolk Council has given permission for two buildings in Emneth Hungate to be remodelled into four properties. These will consist of two four-bedroom homes, a three-bedroom property and a five-bedroom house. Jacqueline Wadsley, 52 - named as the sole beneficiary of Mr Martin’s £2.5 million estate in February after she befriended him when he began drinking in a pub she ran – withdrew plans for another scheme in May. That involved five run-down barns being renovated to created ten new houses but raised concerns about the damage to wildlife. The council's ecology officer, Claire Wiggs, reported that 'no ecological information' had been included in the proposal and called for 'preliminary' assessments on wildlife to be carried out. Two barns at the farm once owned by Tony Martin are to be converted into four homes 'It is possible that protected species are present on the site including breeding birds, reptiles and roosting bats and could be impacted by the proposals,' she wrote. 'There are known records of roosting pipistrelle within 1km and badgers within 2km of the site.' Further issues were raised by Norfolk County Council's highways development management officer, Richard Smith, who described the single carriageway road leading to the farm as 'inadequate' as it featured no footway or dedicated cycle links and had poor visibility He also suggested that ten homes on the site would produce 60 vehicle movements a day, which would be to 'the detriment of highway safety'. The plans should be scaled down to 'no more than four homes' to create a 'more proportional development', Mr Smith added. The new, smaller scheme qualified for permitted development rights which allow the conversions to take place without going through the full planning process. An ecological survey said it would have a negligible effect on wildlife, while the application stated adding four homes would not lead to an increase in traffic compared to those needed previously for agricultural purposes. A total of 164 acres of land around the farm is already up for sale in two lots for £1.37 million. Mr Martin was jailed for life in April 2000 after being convicted of murder and wounding but his sentence was reduced on appeal to five years for manslaughter Jacqueline Wadsley, 52, was named as the sole beneficiary of Mr Martin’s £2.5 million estate in February after she befriended him when he began drinking in a pub she ran The building conversions do not involve Bleak House, the now derelict farmhouse where Mr Martin used an unlicensed shotgun in 1999 to shoot dead intruder Fred Barras, 16, and injure accomplice Brendan Fearon, then aged 29. The eccentric bachelor was jailed for life in April 2000 after being convicted of murder and wounding at Norwich Crown Court but his sentence was reduced on appeal to five years for manslaughter. The case sparked a national debate about the rights of householders to protect themselves and their property from intruders. Mr Martin never set foot again in Bleak House following his release from prison, instead often preferring to sleep in his car parked in one of his barns. He became friends with Mrs Wadsley while drinking in the Hare and Hounds which she ran in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, following his release from Highpoint Prison, Suffolk, in 2003. The pair were said to have formed a relationship akin to 'a father and daughter', with Mrs Wadsley often cooking him Sunday lunches, while he did odd jobs for her family to keep himself busy. Fred Barras, 16, was shot dead by Mr Martin with an unlicensed shotgun Brendan Fearon, aged 29 at the time of the raid, was injured The farmer, who died aged 80 in February last year after a stroke, made her and her husband David, 45, executors of his will in 2013. She reportedly had no idea before his death that he was leaving everything to her.