Howard rebuts judges' attack

MICHAEL HOWARD, the Home Secretary, yesterday defended his 'get tough' policy on crime amid increasing criticism by judges and penal law reformers. He said that the judicial system should be improved 'to make it easier for the police to catch criminals, to make it easier for the courts to convict the guilty. Those are what my proposals were designed to achieve.'

Speaking on BBC radio he rejected the suggestion that those who had been in prison reoffended to a greater extent than those who had not, and added: 'A recent survey showed that if burglars were imprisoned for a year rather than not sent to prison, between three and 13 crimes per burglar would be prevented.'

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