THERE are times when the law would make a saint's blood boil.

Our blood is still boiling over last week's case involving Mark Milton, the police officer who was let off a speeding charge despite test driving his new patrol car at 159 miles per hour on a motorway in Shropshire.

And it has gone up a few more degrees after the revelation that £40,000-a-week footballer El-Hadj Diouf successfully claimed legal aid to fight a charge of spitting at a young Middlesbrough supporter when Bolton played at the Riverside in November.

El-Hadj Diouf could have covered his own court costs with his earnings from a few minutes on the pitch. It is a disgrace that he had the gall to apply for legal aid in the first place and scandalous that the rules allowed him to be successful.

Thankfully, the Government has announced plans to change the system by requiring anyone earning more than £27,500-a-year to pay their own legal costs in magistrates' courts.

It is a case of better late than never. But it is such an obvious step to take, it is hard to understand why it has taken so long for ministers to act.

It would be nice to think that El-Hadj Diouf would come to realise that he should pay the bill himself. But that's a bit like expecting Mark Milton to give himself a speeding fine.