Sir, If Justice Minister Nora Owen or British Home Secretary Michael Howard announced that suspected drug dealers were to be summarily executed and that other alleged offenders would have their arms and legs broken, all without any semblance of a trial, there would be absolute outrage. Should it be any different when these barbarities are carried out by a shadowy group which is accountable to no one?
Those who campaigned over the years to abolish the death penalty and to free the victims of miscarriages of justice cannot but be appalled at the recent beatings and killings in the North. I accept that there is a vacuum caused by the lack of acceptable and accountable policing in certain areas, but this is not an acceptable alternative. Yours, etc., Blackrock, Co Dublin.