LETTER: Sentencing the Whiteheads

From Mr Mike Gibson

Sir: Despite your creeping editorial on behalf of people who lie in court ("Is the judge up to the job?" 23 May), Mr Justice Kennedy is certainly up to the job. The custodial sentence was perfectly justified. Patricia Whitehead lied. Had she been an unemployed single parent from a council estate jailed for lying to the DSS about a benefit claim I doubt if you would be singing her praises.

I am tired of the cavalier attitude of many motorists towards cyclist and pedestrians. On a number of occasions I have nearly been killed when I have been knocked off my bike in what you claim are "minor" accidents. Don't talk about the jail sentence "depriving" three children of their parents. How many kids have been permanently deprived of their parents after they were mown down in road accidents?

Three cheers for Mr Justice Kennedy. It is good to see a judge treating a middle-class couple from Hampshire in a manner to which they are obviously unaccustomed.

Yours faithfully,

MIKE GIBSON

London, SE15

23 May