I FEEL I must write (I suspect along with hundreds of others) in response to the brilliant and heartfelt piece by Fred Shawcross on July 27 -- "A baddy is a baddy" -- regarding the treatment of paedophiles and other sex offenders.

I was beginning to think there was only me on this planet who believes paedophiles, child killers and sex offenders should be castrated with a blunt knife and no anaesthetic. Finally, I think I have found an ally in Fred Shawcross.

Why do these so-called do-gooders (the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders - what on earth is THAT all about?) declare that these sickos need help, understanding, care and resettlement and that it would be a violation of their human rights to lock them up forever or hang them from a tree? What about the human rights of their victims? What about the human rights of little Sarah Payne and little Jamie Bulger? What about the human rights of their destroyed families who live with a life sentence every day of their lives?

To digress slightly, I am sick to death of reading about paedophiles, killers and rapists going to 'prison' for seven years (with good behaviour and parole) when a drug dealer receives a sentence of 30 years (not that I agree in any way with drugs, but you see my point). If a person takes drugs, that is their decision and something they choose to do and if it kills them - well they chose to take it (I apologise to anyone who has lost a loved one to drugs), but a helpless, innocent child whose life is taken so cruelly and sickly DID NOT ask for it or have a choice.The most stupid law we have has got to be the little gem where if a stranger breaks into your house to steal your possessions, or whatever else he's thinking of doing, and you strike him (as human nature would prompt you to do), YOU are the one who is charged and gets into trouble, not him. I have come to the conclusion that the powers that be of this country do not possess an ounce of common sense when it comes to the law.

The bottom line is the baddies win all the time and the innocent pay and our children can never be totally safe on the streets until something positive is done. It is time to bring back corporal and capital punishment. The do-gooders can scream and shout about human rights all they want but with the progress of DNA and genetic fingerprinting, there can be no doubt of a mistake occurring and the wrong person being executed, so that blows that little chestnut right out of the water. It is too late for Sarah Payne, Jamie Bulger and the countless other babies who have suffered at the hands of these monsters, but its not too late to stop it happening to the rest of our children. This country desperately needs a deterrent before it really is too late.

Jo-Anne Coleman

Lea Gate, Bradshaw