THE "considerable uncertainty" of waiting to see if he would have to serve longer behind bars must have been intolerable for Alfred Welch.

Well, Lord Justice Pill clearly thought so, because it was that uncertainty which persuaded him that Welch deserved only one extra year in prison for killing an innocent father-of-two.

Had it not been for that uncertainty, he would have made Welch serve two extra years. Uncertainty is obviously a terrible thing to have to endure.

But what about certainty? Such as the certainty of knowing that a loved one, like Paul Simpson, will never come home. The certainty that his children will not have him as a father as they grow. The certainty that his fiance will not have him as a husband. The certainty that his mother will not have him as a son.

All Paul Simpson wanted to do was help a motorist. He ended up being punched by a man playing a mindless game, who escaped with an original three-year sentence for manslaughter.

In citing Welch's uncertainty as a reason to hold back on a two-year extension of that jail term, Lord Justice Pill simply poured salt on the family's wounds.

Two more years still wouldn't have been anywhere near enough. But another 12 months is an insult to the memory of Paul Simpson, and a kick in the guts for his family.

As his brother Geoff said yesterday: "The law is out of touch and out of date."

That is the certainty.