David BaleGorleston TV star Myleene Klass told a Sunday newspaper she would defend her family with a machete in an astonishing defence of homeowners' rights to protect themselves.David Bale

Gorleston TV star Myleene Klass has told a Sunday newspaper she would defend her family with a machete in an astonishing defence of homeowners' rights to protect themselves.

The former Hear'Say popstar - who hosts ITV1's Popstar To Operastar show - spoke out despite being warned by police she may have acted illegally when she recently waved a knife at intruders in her garden in Hertfordshire, when she was alone with two-year-old Ava while her fianc�, Graham Quinn, 35, was away on business.

Mum-of-one Myleene, 31, told a national newspaper: 'Friends keep asking if I plan to move out of my house but the truth is I would use a machete before I let these people drive me out of my home.

'Of course I'd use a machete to protect my family. I've only just moved into my new home. I'd do anything to shield my little girl Ava from harm. It's ridiculous and utterly disgraceful that I'm being criticised.'

Her defiant outburst comes in the week that businessman Munir Hussain - freed on appeal after he was jailed for 30 months for battering a knife raider - called for a review of the law on defence in the home.

Norfolk-born Myleene also pointed to the controversial case of farmer Tony Martin, who in 1999 was convicted of killing burglar Fred Barras, 16, and wounding Brendon Fearon, 29, after they broke into his farmhouse in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk.

She said: 'I remember the case really well - it was ridiculous.

'Somebody was trying to rob his livelihood so what was he supposed to do? He was protecting himself.'