I was so incensed by the article "Yobs beat up poppy pensioner" (The Argus, November 9) I had to write to voice my anger.

I suggest a concerted effort be made to catch the people who carried out this crime.

When caught, if not in useful employment, they should be given a job with wages - perhaps Brighton and Hove City Council could oblige - and their wages saved to pay for a trip to the war graves of the soldiers of the last wars, taking with them their 61-year-old pensioner victim.

When there, a plaque should be placed around their necks stating they stole from these men. They should then be made to walk the length and breadth of the cemetery.

Hopefully, the ghosts of some of those souls will haunt them enough to make them realise those men died for the likes of them to live in the society we have established today.

Perhaps they may come home with a different outlook on life - or am I asking for miracles?

-Mrs M E Howell, Lincoln Avenue, Peacehaven