A CHANGE in the law is needed in order to restore corporal punishment in the community to act as a positive deterrent to re-offending.

We are most concerned about the current levels of assault and GBH, both in the street and also in the home, particularly those attacks which result in robbery, severe injury or death to both young and old.

We now find that people are loathe to bear witness, as they face both menace and harassment from the defendant's family. People of all ages are attacked and robbed and left for dead both in the street and also their own home. The elderly are now moving out, off the estates, for fear of their lives. In this area the local authority has removed the resident warden from the council housing estates, in favour of "The man in the van!"

We are agreed that the time has come to take strong action against both children, and all other people who are a hazard, menace and danger to the public. These young people, if deterred from creating a nuisance, will perhaps make better citizens. People who are engaged in arson, rape, menace, robbery, which may result in severe injury or death for both young and old if they get in the way need a strong lesson from both the police and the court. They will remember next time if they cannot sit or lie down for a week.

Clarissa Clarke, Knowsley Farm, The Green, Weeton.