THE article 'A murder a week probation shocker' (LET, July 2) didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. It was simply an exercise in blame shifting.

But why blame the probation service when villains who should never have been released in the first place re-offend?

No matter that the general public are the ones at risk when bad decisions are taken.

For instance, 'Murder Squad' on ITV on July 1, dealt with a lunatic who murdered an elderly Asian couple and proceeded to rape and terrorise two girls at the scene of the crime. And when this individual was sentenced it was 'recommended' that he serve 18 years.

Eighteen years! This homicidal maniac should never be released into society again. But then I and millions of others who think like this are oddballs.

And when he is let loose and commits another couple of murders, some newspaper will be printing a similar article. Too late, then, I'm afraid.

Good copy for the media; a nice gory story, but only heartbreak and despair for the families concerned.

It's time our views were taken into account, not dismissed out of hand as though we were naive imbeciles.

J CROWTHER, Carlinghurst Road, Blackburn.

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