Letter: Punishment fits the crime

I READ, with horror and amazement, the articles concerning James Bulger's murder, 'Bulger killers to challenge Howard ruling' and Blake Morrison's column 'A child's right to justice in an adult world' (29 May). It seems the reason for the trial has been forgotten. Among the thousands of words written, the only clear fact remains almost hidden from view: that two 10-year- old boys could wander into a shopping centre, pick up a two- year-old child and take him to a railway line, before brutally beating him to death. Regardless of motive, isn't this something we should be punishing?

Mr Morrison is correct in his assertion that the murderers may not have realised the difference between right and wrong. In prison they can begin to learn the difference, but they should never be allowed on to our streets while they have breath in their bodies to do the same thing again.

Lack of 'intellectual largeness' or not, Thompson and Venables broke the laws and stripped another of his life for no reason. Forget the trial, remember the crime.

Paul Woodgate

Maldon, Essex