my heart goes out to..

Splutter! Why, you fetid little... *Sees vision of Chant with raised eyebrow* ...fellow human being. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, Terri.

well, i can only say that H has one of the finest minds i have ever seen, and i'm glad he uses the site. i feel i have learnt a lot from him, and that he has a lot to offer.

*Quite overcome* Thanks, Chant!

Slightly mystified - didn't see any of this thread as being in any sense casting doubt on the original sentiments, merely that a debate was being had about how and if such things can be prevented in the future. I took it very much as read that every person contributing had nothing but sympathy and empathy with the parents of the children concerned. It is such an obvious thing that it seemed to me to go without saying - but in the same way as you can talk about the West's actions against terrorism without in any sense denigrating those who died on September 11th. If it doesn't go without saying, then I will say it. I have the utmost sympathy for the parents friends and relatives of those girls, and I don't think anyone here can assess how painful the whole thing has been.

Me too, although I don't know what to say ..... or do. I can't say, "I can only imagine what it feels like," because I can't imagine what it feels like at all. I only know that if it were me it would tear my very heart and soul right out of my body. God bless them.

There are no words

Yes there are, "Line them up against a wall and shoot the bastards" seems like a pretty good start to me. All my thoughts are with the girls poor parents and families.

No words only the "big one Why" doe's the laws of this land let it keep happening over and over again, all they do every time is talk about what has to be done with out getting it done, ok it might not be the cure of all but the numbers would be greatly reduced and I am not intelligent enough to have the answers but what I have said would be a start not keep!!! putting it off, its about time the ones with the supposed intelligence and can comand started to think like the nation doe's What!!! if it happened to one of mine and feel the anger that I feel now. From a very upset and feeling NAN of nine grandchildren the youngest five years old... PS. US oldies often get mocked when we say our days were the best and even if in some minds thats not true they were certainly much safer in many ways, and I am more than sure that most of our clan would say including myself. "If you must take someboby let it be us" NOT THE CHILDREN!!!

Line them up against the wall and shoot the bastards. Yep. Then we can wander the streets in safety, and let the kids run free wherever they want. Don't know why anyone didn't think of that sooner. Rather than dwelling on the minds of the killers in a fashion that verges on black adoration, and rather than commenting on them and their existence with crass rhetoric and calls to arms, as the nation's self-appointed spokespersons will insist on doing - can we perhaps consider the possibility of taking a little of the responsibility ourselves? I'm reminded of a far less grave incident - the flasher on the UEA campus, who kept exposing himself to girls. Naturally, the student council and the student newspaper campaigned to have more lights, more policemen and more security cameras around to protect students, whatever the cost in time and money, but little was said about the idea of students protecting themselves and each other. It's just too inconvenient.

You obviously haven't been taking note other times Henstoat when something like this has happened, that line you spoke about always comes up and is the first thing most people might think about but it never happens all they think to issue is expensive treatment then let them go to repeat their foul actions over again, after all the powers to be are all great at spending public money and lining their own pockets for when they retire. Its time the system had a good shake up and something better put in its place. Now begs the question "how, what and who is there to take on the job and not end up by being as corrupt as all the rest?...

Aw, Jay, I'm afraid being sarcastic. I know everyone always says we should shoot them, but we don't. Firstly because it wouldn't work - not as a deterrent - the crimes will go on, and new, more desperate measures will be devised in order to stay out of the noose. Killing them offers false relief. Secondly, we should be reaching for solutions beyond the savage. I agree the system could do with a good shake-up - but people are always saying that, and it doesn't often happen. I think we would do far better to ask ourselves and our immediate communities what we can do to change things than appeal to politicians, who's job, it seems, is to weather public criticism until we've moved on to a new issue.

I can't see how the laws the of land of responsible for this. Murder is illegal. I don't see what the police or the government could have done to prevent these murders. These events are terrible but they are also very rare. There will always be, in any society, a small number of warped people who do terrible things. I don't believe this happens any more regularly in 2002 than it did 1902 or 1802. It's just that thanks to the mass media, 24 hour news etc. we all get the impression that the events are taking place on our doorstep and are happening to people we know. On the other hand young children are far more likely to be killed by cars in 2002 than they were in 1902 but as this is less immediately, it much less of a story.

Road deaths also deprive the columnists and Littlejohns of someone to hate, blame and wish death upon, since they all drive cars and probably have no regard for the law themselves when they're in one.

Very rare are they David? The official police figures for sex offenders on the register in Chelmsford is 264, that figure takes no account of those that aren't on the register obviously, so the true number is anybody's guess. Multiply that around the country and you have an enormous amount of sick bastards. I appreciate that they aren't all murderers but until one kills you don't know which ones are potential killers. I'm not advocating a cull but the idea that society can reduce the numbers by some kind of 'change' is typical uninformed rubbish, killers don't advertise their intentions in the main. I, like many others here, get a bit pissed off with the smartarse students who are still wet behind the ears and yet think they have the answer to everything. They don't have enough life experience to know what's best, or to preach to older people who have 'walked the walk'. It takes a lifetime to acquire a lifetimes experience. I've no doubt this post will get the usual intelligent replies.

The one comment I would make was that the authorities saying that the girls were still alive back when a day or so had passed was wrong, giving false hope. Maybe if every citizen was chipped like pets are then we could easily find anyone.

Mississippi, I'm not entirely clear what relevance the number of sex offenders in Chelmford has to this case. There's somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 sex offenders on the register nationally. This includes 20-year-old men who've slept with 15-year old girls and people convicted of distributing illegal adult pornagraphy amongst others. While these people may have done unpleasant things, very few of them are likely to murder children and very few of them do. I didn't offer an answer for everything or in fact, anything. My point was that in terms of murders like this one, you probably can't do anything. I said these things are very rare. They are very rare. I'm not saying society could reduce them by change. In fact, point was the exact opposite.

they are running this chip idea in america as a totally voluntary pilot scheme i believe, something called 'Guardian Angel' or similar. (unsure) whilst i can see the positive benefits of this, it chills me to the core when i think of the implications it could have. the thing is, when something like this happens, it stirs up all manner of emotions. parents especially feel nauseous at the thought of something similar happening to theior own kids, and liberal lefty i may be accused of being, but i have to fight the string em up feelings that i get. I remember a lonnnng time ago, having a fight with my father about something similar, when i said that hanging etc wasnt the answer for a child murderer, and he told me to remember all these noble sentiments when i was a mother. Hes right of course, but so was i. i dunno what the answer is, i just know that its a deplorable and disgusting thing to have happened, and it saddens me immensely.