Despite claims by Martin's friends and his mother that he hated shooting, he was involved in a number of incidents with guns. In December 1987 he had an argument at his brother's house over some property. Martin is said to have got very upset and used a shotgun to smash windows. In 1994 he had his shotgun certificate revoked after he found a man scrumping for apples in his orchard and shot a hole in the back of his vehicle. The guns, Martin said, were for shooting pigeons.
Guns are part of the culture in the Norfolk area.
Farmers use them every day and many local people keep them not just for hunting but protection. Here, there is an air of paranoia, a fear of the intruder. Walk around the villages of Emneth and Emneth Hungate and that fear is more than palpable. NFU Mutual figures show Norfolk as having the highest incidence of rural crime, particularly burglaries and the theft of tractors and trailers. Emneth has policing difficulties because of its situation on the borders of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, making it a target for the travelling criminal.