Sir, - I refer to y our report "Bid to make citizen's arrest backfires on trio" (D&S, Nov 29).

I should not be the least surprised at the ridiculous outcome of the court case. My sympathy extends to the "wronged" trio and sadly it is all too believable that Judge George Moorhouse exhibits how out of touch legal figures are in their privileged world.

Justice is blind and increasingly useless when all that the decision will result in is much rejoicing amongst the small number of brain dead that terrorise estates, police and now the judges. Will no one dare rid us of this anti-social behaviour?

Earlier this week a Leven Valley driver was foully screamed at by 15-year-olds on a public service vehicle, coins were flung, senior citizens were frightened and the driver can do nothing except make a health and safety report.

The school has so far been unable to respond to our request for assistance. The police sympathise. Six more general passengers give up public transport and, "You can't touch us!" rings in my driver's ears. Sadly not an uncommon occurrence.

I am a very optimistic person. I never fail to be amazed at the great common sense of the great majority of the community. I never fail to be amazed at the good humour and dynamism of the great majority of youngsters.

Sadly, I never fall to be amazed at the screaming idiocy of people who once you never hesitated to look to for firm justice. Evil so easily stalks this world where nobody accepts that it exists.

Three puzzled if not bewildered members of the community should hold on to the fact that the great majority of the community support them. At least they tried to do something. The Law will not. The Law seems to be the preserve of the out-of-touch rich people who come across in incidents like this with no credibility.

PAUL THOMPSON

Proprietor, Leven Valley

Marwood Drive,

Great Ayton.

Inadequate figures

Sir, - I read with interest Dr Peter Homa's letter "Not our fault" (D&S, Nov 29), because I had written to the Commission for Health improvement (CHI) regarding the validity of these data.

I was very pleased to note that the reported higher than average death rates for non-emergency orthopaedic surgery had resulted from an error in the way in which patients at the hospital had been classified. This will be reassuring for patients who are served by the South Durham Health Care NHS Trust.

But this episode does raise an important concern with regard to the work of CHI and the use of hospital statistics. In this particular case, the statistics suggested higher death rates than would be expected and the matter was, therefore, rightly investigated.

However, what if the statistics suggested that all was well but these had resulted from errors in the collection of data? No investigation would have taken place and the public would have been led into a false sense of security.

This whole episode highlights very clearly the dangers which can result from inadequate hospital statistics and inspection by outside bodies. Urgent attention needs to be given to the improvement of this data collection in order to protect both patients and surgeons in the future.

Prof PAUL GREGG

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon and president, British Orthopaedic Association,

The Old Vicarage,

Grinton.