Letter: Racism or bigotry

Sir: Pace Paul Walter (letter, 2 March), it is not asinine to allege that the Home Office is responsible for the publication of the names of informants in the Stephen Lawrence case.

If an informant is severely injured as a result of his or her identity having been revealed, against whom does Mr Walter imagine the legal action will lie? Sir William Macpherson, in person?

The report is published by the Stationery Office (Cm 4262-I), and bears on its cover the words "Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department".

Dr GARY SLAPPER

The Law Programme

The Open University

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire