Justice for Victims delivered the first 10,000 names of a national petition demanding tougher sentences for violent offenders to Downing Street.

THE family of a Briton murdered while helping to deliver aid in Bosnia expressed outrage at reports that a suspect in the killing had 'conveniently' escaped. Paul Goodall's father- in-law, Michael Palmer, said: 'We would like the murderers brought to justice, but there's no justice out there.'

Aman accused of rape by his wife was cleared by a jury at the Old Bailey. He is believed to be the first husband to stand trial for raping his wife while living with her and not legally barred from interfering with her.

The law firm groupings Law South and LawNet have introduced an out-of-hours telephone legal advice service.

LAST week's article 'The Yuk Factor' stated that Dr Celia Pyper 'strongly supports legal abortion'. We understand that this does not reflect Dr Pyper's views, or the thesis put forward in the book Pandora's Clock which she co-authored with Maureen Freely, and apologise for the embarrassment caused.

Sir: Lord Howe has made a number of assertions about the procedure before the Scott inquiry and the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry that must not go unchallenged (report, 13 January).

If the board decides that the conduct of an applicant for compensation for criminal injuries made a full award inappropriate, then it must state to what extent the applicant's conduct impacted on the appropriateness of an award before it concluded that a nil award was appropriate.

DO YOU ever get the feeling that there is no justice in this game? To bid and make a grand slam in a pairs contest usually guarantees an excellent score, but here South had every right to be aggrieved.

The Criminal Justice Bill, which abolishes the unit fines system and returns to courts the power to consider previous convictions when sentencing, is expected to receive Royal Assent today.

An application by solicitors working for the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office to appear in higher courts was opposed by the Lord Chancellor's advisory committee on legal education and conduct. The committee's report will also delay moves to give other solicitors the right to represent their clients in higher courts.

Sir: I was very pleased to see that your newspaper ('Innocent 'at risk' under plea bargains', 1 June) had highlighted the issue of plea bargaining and the excellent report on this produced by Justice. Liberty has, over the years, received a number of complaints from individuals who have pleaded guilty following pressure from lawyers and others, only to find that there is virtually nothing that they can then do to overturn that decision - despite the fact that they have good grounds for claiming their innocence.

The owner of Corky the cockerel, whose crow was ruled to be a nuisance and was silenced by a county court judge, faces a legal bill of about pounds 25,000. Marjery Johns, of Stoke, north Devon, plans to challenge the ruling.

Two women who suffered sex abuse as children - one by her father, the other by her stepfather - are not entitled to compensation, the High Court ruled.

The criminal injuries compensation scheme's exclusion of compensation claims to victims of family violence for injuries occurring before 1 October 1979 was not unfair or irrational. A victim did not have any entitlement to compensation under the scheme, which was a manifestation of the bounty of the Crown, and could only recover an award according to the rules in force.