Letter: Let Jon Venables sink or swim

THE report that Jon Venables is to be given a second new identity (News, 25 July) is a disgrace; he never should have been given one new identity, never mind two.

When the police announced that a "risk assessment" would need to be carried out, before any decision was made, all right-minded people would think that this meant how much of a risk Venables posed to the community but, instead, it seems the main concern is the risk to Venables. It's more like a scene out of a very sick black comedy than real life.

The majority of people probably don't give a toss about any threat to Venables; what we are concerned about is the threat to the community posed by him and people like him. That the government and the police are more concerned about the safety of offenders than the safety of the public makes a mockery of the justice system.

Venables has already demonstrated that he is a threat to the community. We don't need psychiatrists or any other kind of so-called mind doctors to tell us that. He committed a shocking crime and, instead of making an attempt to change, has taken up child porn for a hobby.

Venables should never be released into the community but, if and when he is, he should not be given any new identity; he can sink or swim.

Sandra Busell, Edinburgh