Letter: Fear prevents aid for rape victims behind rape eady here heady here

Sir: As a society we are no longer culturally, physically or judicially capable of coming to the defence of a rape victim.

Thirty years ago, the cries of a rape victim might have reached the ears of an ex-serviceman who, confident in his physical ability, training, and the backing of society and the law, would have been admirably equipped to see off any would-be rapist.

Today, a rapist will at least be armed with a knife, but if any would- be rescuer were to consider intervention equipped with a tyre iron or a crook-lock, to defend the life of both the victim and himself, he might end up in the dock rather than the villain.

Until good, moral sense - in the form of a logical interpretation of reasonable action in the face of violent crime - is restored, and the right-minded citizen is once again fully supported against the violent criminal, there will be many more Chislehursts.

D EADSFORTH

Winchester