The disappointment of it all!

The one thing the British police have difficulties with it seems is the handling of social misfits within the context of murder inquiries. Stefan Kiszko was wrongly convicted of murdering Lesley Molseed. His particular problem was being an immature man with sexual, social and medical problems. He was "caught" with dirty mags in his car, fitted up for the crime, convicted of murder and life went on as usual. On his release Kiszko benignly felt able to blame nobody but indicated a desire for matrimony and domestic bliss. He died about a year later.

The police said that this could never happen again. I well remember my sister saying, when Barry George was first charged with murder, "Looks like they've just picked up the local nutter!" - and it seems she was right. Eight years after his conviction Barry George walks free. However, the Metropolitan Police are not so sure. Scotland Yard said it was disappointed by the verdict but respected the decision of the court. Disappointed? That Barry George wasn't rotting his life away on the flimsiest of evidence. Are they now too casual to get their boots on to detect the crime? Probably.

The Metropolitan Police is now an organisation built on the business of statistics, political correctness, short-termism, and internal politics. The Barry George's of this world come low down on the list of priorities.

Society needs to get a grip of how we deal with those whose lives have become a mess. Barry George was "known" to the authorities but the authorities didn't care much. So we are left with a crime that will be unsolved, a much-loved TV presenter's family in distress, another family relieved after eight years campaigning and the rest of us left wondering.

Only the police are disappointed!