Bubblyrat - don't believe everything you read in the Daily Mail. It's purpose is to scare the crap out of people like you.
Doe you honestly imagine that if ordinary people had guns you would have had fewer firearms-related deaths in the UK?
And yes, you are allowed to defend yourself in Britain. Whatever the right-wing tabloids say, the law entitles you to use reasonable and proportionate force to defend yourself. You can even kill someone if necessary. What you can't do is what Tony Martin did, and that is to shoot someone in the back with an illegally held firearm.
So, if someone is raping your daughter, you may certainly use the smallsword on the wall. You may find yourself having to justify your actions in court, but that is only right, for no-one should have carte-blanche to take another person's life (or perhaps, in your gung-ho world, they should).
And before writing any more twaddle on what the police will and won't do, why don't you talk to a police officer. Get your head out of the tabloids and engage with the real world.