OUR front page story today will add to the growing concern that the criminal justice system is geared to the interests of those who break the law.

Nearing the end of his nine-year sentence in Kirklevington Grange Prison, Yarm, David Duddin was correctly given assistance to rehabilitate himself in the wider world in preparation for his release.

Judges Hotel in Yarm offered him work as a porter. It was a brave, trusting offer - few guests would have been attracted to the hotel if they'd known that their bags could have been handled by a man still serving a sentence for dealing in stolen goods.

It meant that Mr Duddin got valuable experience outside the confines of the prison and he would also have got a reference for a future employer, saying he was trustworthy and had put his lapse into crime behind him.

The main beneficiaries from this employment would have be

en society in general. It would have known that a man guilty of a serious crime was now ready to return safely into the community. But Mr Duddin has received legal aid and won an out-of-tribunal settlement of £911 for holiday and overtime pay. And the hotel, in return for its magnanimous gesture towards him, is out of pocket both in terms of the settlement and its legal fees.

Of course, it is never right for employers to exploit workers, even if they are prisoners.

But, having read our story, there will be far fewer employers willing to take a risk on helping prisoners rehabilitate themselves. And there will be many, many readers scratching their heads about how a criminal can profit while in prison and how he can be entitled to holiday pay when he is supposed to be behind bars.