A MAN approaches the vicinity of an 81-year- old woman with a concealed axe and gets six years in jail. In another instance an 81-year-old man actually has his windows put through with bricks and an iron bar and is tormented by youths for three days. They are apprehended and let off.

The first is Elizabeth Windsor, who is still employed as the Queen of England, and the second is my father.This is the crux of what is wrong with the justice system. The state can act to punish criminality when the wealthy and powerful are threatened but couldn’t care less when it comes to ordinary people. The sooner the police, Crown Prosecution Service and courts are made accountable to the communities they are supposed to serve the better.

Ian Brooke

Almondbury Independents