Sir, – I read with interest the article about Mandy Dunford and Ken Ward (D&S, May 8) which raised fundamental issues about the judiciary, law and order and policing.

While being sympathetic to the lady and her ordeal, it does beg the question – have the police not set a dangerous precedent by offering her £5,000 to construct a panic room in her home?

Why should she have to live in fear and turn her home into a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster?

In these days of austerity, can North Yorkshire Police afford such philanthropic gestures and have the police abandoned the streets to the likes of Ken Ward, who appears to have found an unlikely ally in the judge?

Food for thought.

JON LANDERS

Broomfield Avenue, Northallerton.