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On 20 August 1999, Tony Martin, a 54-year-old bachelor, was living alone at his farmhouse, Bleak House, in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk. He claimed to have been burgled ten times, with losses totaling £6,000 in stolen furniture, though police expressed doubts about the number of incidents. Martin voiced frustration over what he perceived as police inaction and reported that several items, including dinnerware and a grandfather clock, had been stolen. In response, Martin armed himself with a pump-action Winchester Model 1300 12-gauge shotgun, which he claimed to have found, though it was illegally held. Changes in legislation following the 1988 Hungerford massacre had reclassified such firearms, requiring a valid certificate, which Martin no longer had after it was revoked in 1994 when he shot at a vehicle in his orchard after catching a man stealing apples.

On the evening of 20 August 1999, two burglars—29-year-old Brendon Fearon and 16-year-old Fred Barras, both from Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire—broke into Martin's house. Martin, shooting downward in the dark with his shotgun loaded with birdshot, fired three times at the intruders: once as they were on the stairwell and twice more as they attempted to escape through a ground-floor window. Barras was struck in the back, and both intruders suffered leg injuries. While they managed to flee through the window, Barras died at the scene. Martin claimed he had fired in response to being awakened by the sound of a smashed window. However, the prosecution argued that Martin had lain in wait for the burglars and fired at close range without warning, motivated by revenge for the previous break-ins.

On 10 January 2000, Fearon and 33-year-old Darren Bark, who had served as the getaway driver, admitted to conspiring to burgle Martin's farmhouse. Fearon received a three-year prison sentence, while Bark was sentenced to two and a half years, with an additional 12 months added for prior offenses. Fearon was released on 10 August 2001. Fred Barras, who died during the incident, had already been convicted of 29 offenses by the age of 16, including theft and fraud. He had recently been sentenced to two months in a young offenders' institution for assaulting a police officer, theft, and disorderly conduct. On the night of his death, Barras had just been released on bail after being accused of stealing garden furniture. His grandmother, Mary Dolan, expressed her grief, stating, "It's not fair that the farmer has all the money, and he is the one that took Fred away.

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