I READ with surprise the recent story about the rape of a woman 45 years ago when she was only six years old.

She only recently found the courage to report it and the police arrested the man concerned, Alan Guthery. He confessed to the crime saying: "Sometimes we were left alone and that's when I did those bad things."

This, surely, is what they call an open and shut case. But the Crown Prosecution Service refused to press charges, saying there wasn't enough evidence to proceed with the case.

Is there something I'm missing - would a jury perhaps find him not guilty with so little evidence of only a plain admission of guilt?

As the saying goes, it beggars belief.

ALBERT J MORRIS, Clement View, Nelson.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.