THE case of Mark Barnes, who spent two weeks in prison for offences he did not commit, is disturbing.

Stipendiary magistrate Jonathon Finestein, who dismissed all charges after the allegedly stolen property was found at the accuser's flat, said the matter required urgent investigation on the part of the police.

He is right. It is up to the police to find out just what went wrong .

It is absolutely horrendous that someone can be thrown in prison under such circumstances.

These are the sort of actions we expect from less well trained police in other countries.

We accept that our police forces have an unenviable task. They are often under-funded and under-staffed but for most of the time they do a splendid job under very difficult circumstances.

However, in this instance, standards appear to have slipped. The investigation must be swift and thorough.

Previous news story

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.