SO called authority wants to take over a holiday camp near Morecambe to use as a prison.

Granted, prisons are holiday camps, but in fact we don't need more prisons to deal with the vermin that have no respect for people or their property.

The fate of Catherine Bretherton, 92, shows just how low modern society can sink.

The latest cure is to put them in prison at an annual cost of £24,000 per prisoner and to keep them longer at a still greater cost.

The only solution is to whip the hide of those who are caught, send them home and make them or their parents pay for any loss of property.

Then the authorities would be able to say they were getting tough with criminals and saving millions of pounds in the process.

In the General Election I will vote for the party who will carry out my wishes or, if not, I will not waste my time going to vote.

Do the Telegraph's readers agree?

LEN RUSHTON, Bowland House, Larkhill, Blackburn.

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