IN different circumstances, 26-year-old Kevin Booth might merit an award for his industry -- having, according to him, completed 375 'jobs' in just eight weeks; a rate of more than six a day, by my arithmetic.

But since these 'jobs' -- amounting to 2,500 over more than a decade -- were burglaries carried out in his home town, Blackburn, there will be sparse applause for his efficiency, I think, or for this apology this week to his victims and his plea to people to stop persecuting him for his past.

Back in town after his release from a four-year prison sentence, Mr Booth -- described by police as a 'one-man crime wave' -- says: "I just want to be able to go to bed at nights knowing I have apologised."

His contrition and complaints about his being tormented over his past will, I am sure, be heeded -- but only as their sincerity is measured over time...about as long as the decade during which he was inflicting fear and misery on thousands of his victims.

Saying sorry is fine, but asking for the slate to be wiped clean at a stroke is expecting too much.

We look forward to Mr Booth proving himself first.