Letters: Leeson the hero

Sir: I read with interest but little surprise the hostile reporting by the British press of Nick Leeson's release from prison.

You report (5 July) on Mr Leeson "sitting in his pounds 1,680 Club class seat" and dining on "grilled fillet of beef, washed down with a sauvignon and a claret" with a contempt that I can only describe as childish.

So Nick Leeson brought down Barings Bank with such ease as to make the whole financial world look rather silly. It is the vulgarity of the modern banking system and the incompetent people that make a fortune from running it that needs to be scrutinised, not Mr Leeson's dinner plate.

I cannot help but think there is a jealousy among the press because Leeson sold his story to a rival paper. To those of us in the real world with our objectivity still intact, Nick Leeson is a hero, not the privileged villain you make him out to be.

DARRYL FINN

London N16