WHAT are we to make of the appalling events in Soham?

The 'we' means you and I. It excludes the cruel, murderous, perverted, evil crazies out there. And there must be plenty of them, judging by the number of crimes committed against children.

I don't know what the reaction was in your house when the girls' bodies were found. There were tears in mine. My wife and I have children and grandchildren and, while thankfully we have never had to suffer the agonies experienced by the parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, every mum and dad must surely have wondered how they would cope in a similar situation.

I am not the most tolerant of men and the hatred and disgust I feel for whoever is responsible for the abduction and murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman is totally consuming.

When hopes that the girls would turn up unharmed were replaced by the realisation that something terrible had happened, the thought uppermost in my mind was how could anyone sink to such depths of depravity?

What could possibly motivate anyone to abduct and kill two innocent children? And, most distressing of all, what horrors were inflicted on those little girls before they were killed?

No doubt the whole sordid details will be revealed when the case is eventually heard, although with the accused killer Ian Huntley currently in Rampton, deemed unfit to attend court, that eventuality is on hold.

That leads us, inexorably, to another, far more relevant query.

If Huntley is found to be insane how did he manage to land a job as a school caretaker?

My newsagent was governor of a school at one time and he assures me that stringent techniques are in place when prospective employees are being interviewed.

I know that emotions are inflamed in the direct aftermath of a crime as horrific as the abduction and killing of children. And judging by the scenes when Huntley's girlfriend Maxine Carr appeared in court earlier this week, the hatred is shared by countless others.

Should the death penalty be restored for such dreadful crimes? I believe it should. And before the apologists, liberals, do-gooders, and turn-the-other-cheekers accuse me of barbarism, let me state unequivocally that there are more of me than you.

If you doubt that, have a chat with any gathering of people other than those in Rampton and the penal institutions where everyone is 'innocent', and see what reaction you get.

Brady and Hindley should have been hanged; so should the murderer of Sarah Payne. And so should the killers of Holly and Jessica.

The daily television images of Soham, Holly and Jessica will fade with time, everywhere except in the minds of their immediate family.

That's life. I want revenge. And if that makes me a barbarian, so be it.