Petition for gardener who shot and killed burglar

Nearly 85,000 people have signed an online petition in supporting a Hérault property owner who shot and killed a burglar on October 5, and demanding a change to France's self-defence laws.

The petition is accompanied by an open letter to Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet headlined: A victim risks imprisonment for protecting his family.

A Facebook support page, meanwhile, has nearly 48,000 likes, for 'Daniel', a landscape gardener, whose Saint-Adrien venue in Servian, near Béziers, as featured on France 2 show Le jardin preferé des Français.

He faces a manslaughter charge after shooting one of two burglars who broke into his home. He reportedly told police that the pair were armed, and attacked him and his wife.

Franceinfo reports that he then seized a gun that he owns to drive wild boar from his award-winning gardens, and shot one of the criminals as they headed upstairs in search of valuables.

The other burglar fled the scene.

The property owner remains at liberty, despite being under investigation, as police seek to determine whether the conditions that would justify a self-defence mitigation are met. In a statement, Béziers prosecutor Yvon Calvet said: "The person who has fired must have been, as objectively as possible, certain of being in danger of death."