HOME Secretary Jack Straw's suggestion that lay magistrates should be replaced by stipendiary ones (LET, August 1) is unthinkable.

The lay magistrates are the bedrock of British justice, built up over 600 years.

These people are upright, respected citizens, trusted by the community and give freely of their time. Their wide background knowledge is invaluable.

If Mr Straw had suggested doing away with the Crown Prosecution Service, that extra bureaucratic layer of lawyers -- then it would be all well and good and revert us back to the previous system which served us well at much lower cost to the taxpayer.

Mr Straw accused lay magistrates of being slow and inconsistent in the sentences they hand down. But this is true across the whole legal system.

How many judgments are now referred to the Court of Appeal and an alarming number overturned in favour of the defendant?

Both the Crown Courts and the stipendiary magistrates, also, seem to reflect a wide variation in sentences for similar crimes, but Mr Straw, being a barrister himself, will perhaps find some plausible excuse for these failings.

Instead of tampering with our legal system, I suggest he seriously addresses the continued rise in serious crime.

JOHN EDDLESTON, Brownhill Road, Blackburn.