I STRONGLY support the views expressed so courageously by Mike Cunningham about the policing of sexual activity in public places.

Whilst it is regrettable that people such as Councillor Jean Rigby may be offended by the sight of ‘two people huddled up in the front of a car’, in my opinion it is vital that taxpayers’ money is targeted at the most serious of crimes.

I would not like to think that one penny of my taxes is being spent on policing people having consenting liaisons in motor vehicles whilst conviction rates for the rape and sexual abuse of women and children remain desperately low.

As a clinical psychologist, I would also like to note that I find the use of the word ‘perverts’ in this context to be wholly inappropriate.

So far as I am aware, there is no evidence that people who engage in sexual acts in these circumstances are any more likely to be sexually deviant than any other section of the community.

Many are married men who have spent their lives ‘in the closet’, fearing the responses of their families and friends if they were to be revealed to be gay.

Labelling them ‘perverts’ simply perpetuates their difficulties and may thus, paradoxically, actually contribute to the continuation of the behaviour which some people appear to find offensive.

DR PAUL WITHERS (via email).