During the past couple of weeks, I have been bombarded by articles on the abduction and killing of Sarah Payne.

The Argus of December 13 devoted its first ten pages to this sad and tragic story and the BBC changed its 9 o'clock programme.

I feel very sorry for Sarah's family and for everybody in a similar situation. However, I am utterly disgusted by the way the British media have treated this tragedy.

I cannot help feeling, for the sake of a "good" story, the Press (and not just the "gutter press") and broadcasters have exploited the public's barely concealed voyeurism and desire for sensationalism.

The result is a hysterical witchhunt for paedophiles or, far worse, for people who the mob thinks are paedophiles.

I wonder whether the public would be interested in learning that the vast majority of sexual assaults on children occur in the family (assaults are committed by dads, grandads, uncles and brothers, not by some evil creatures "out there")? Probably not. That would be too unsettling a piece of information, wouldn't it?

Anyway, all the current hysteria will not bring Sarah back to life or help her parents deal with their predicament.

But it will have a very beneficial effect on the circulation of The Argus and other papers. Sick.

-Ulrich Boltz, Montpelier Road, Brighton