THE decision by Home Secretary Jack Straw today that Moors murderess Myra Hindley will end her days behind bars is not only right because it is totally in tune with public opinion.

It is also - as near as the law can fulfil - in tune with justice and with what this woman deserves.

And there are many who believe that what she and her evil accomplice Ian Brady really deserved was the gallows.

Yet, campaigners for Hindley's release maintain that she is now a good and contrite woman, deserving her freedom after 31 years - and that Mr Straw and his predecessor Michael Howard have caved in to public opinion stirred up by the tabloid newspapers.

But, surely, no matter how public opinion is formed, it must be respected.

Mr Straw, like Mr Howard, has fulfilled his duty in doing just that and discarding the elitist sentiments of people like Lord Longford who, it seems, regard the general public's judgment as flawed and misinformed - and, therefore, dismissible.

Ordinary people, however, are no less lacking in compassion than these campaigners. But they and the Home Office are simply being realistic in looking at the nature of Hindley's crimes and determining the fit punishment for them - in this case, "life" meaning exactly that.

And for all Hindley's contrition, which, it must be said, has previously been tempered by denial, it must not be overlooked that she at least has a life.

That is something that the victims whom she helped lure to their deaths have not enjoyed. And it is something that her deeds have turned into a continual hell for their families.

Measured against the horror and suffering she caused, Hindley's being condemned to die behind bars is a fate she has truly earned.

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