I WISH to write to in support of Roy Martin's letter on "Scout Camp Sex Fiend Jailed" (June 9).

My wife too, is a magistrate and as Mr Martin states: "If longer penalties are thought to be appropriate then they are sent to the Crown Court."

This in itself should send out a message to the Crown Court.

I would suggest that Judge Jonathan Woolman would have become an overnight convert to a much more robust sentence to this man if he had sexually abused one of his family members, and I feel sure that the readership would feel a lot happier if these penalties matched the crime!

When are these judges going to learn that until we use the iron fist instead of the velvet glove, this country will have one of the highest crime rates in the world.

Everybody seems to know this except the judicial system.

In Mr Martin's letter he states that in his considered view the offender should have been "sent down for at least 10 years."

I feel that in my considered view he should have been sent down for 20 years.

CHRIS EGGLESTON (address received).