Letter: Patten wrong on right to silence

Sir: John Patten, Secretary of State for Education, in BBC's Question Time last week, caused my house guest, a member of the Dutch judiciary, to jump out of her seat in anger and disbelief when he calmly stated that (inter alia) Holland and France do not observe the 'right to silence' code.

That a government minister could publicly make so inaccurate a statement horrified her.

Yours faithfully,

M. E. NORTH

Cobham,

Surrey

11 October