SIR: I believe the recent prison sentence given to a diplomat for smuggling child pornography into Britain was too short. Such a short sentence will not act as a deterrent.

The present lackadaisical approach by MPs is not good enough.

According to recent reports there are 4,000 known paedophiles, but only 16 officers to keep tabs on them.

May I suggest that MPs forget about tax cuts and instead lift this blight on our children.

Mr Tom Jones, Shelbourne Avenue, Smithills

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.