One child has been beaten or killed every three days since we first demanded that the Home Secretary changed the law.

The following is an open letter to David Blunkett from the editor of The Argus.

Dear Sir: Thousands of people in Sussex want to know when you intend to end the injustice that protects parents and guardians who murder babies and toddlers in their care.

One Brighton couple who murdered three tiny baby boys walked free from court because of the legal loophole.

A witness testified how the father would put his nicotine-stained fingers down the babies' throats to stop them crying.

The tots would choke and gasp for life.

A Portslade couple left 54 injuries on the body of four-year-old John Smith, including bite marks, before he died.

They too escaped murder charges.

It is 900 days since The Argus met with your predecessor Jack Straw to call for reform of the law.

He promised to consider radical change. Nothing has happened.

Based on Sussex Police research we estimate more than 300 children nationwide have been severely beaten or killed since that meeting.

The vast majority of these sadistic parents or guardians will never be tried, let alone punished.

All they need do is stay silent.

One or both has attacked the child but without concrete proof of who delivered the blows neither can be prosecuted for murder.

As former Sussex Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse said: "That flies in the face of common sense."

The Argus campaign is supported by Sussex Police, the NSPCC, Brighton and Hove city councillors, a 1,000-name petition, families of murdered children and scores of readers who emailed and wrote to this newspaper to express their disgust.

Your Labour colleague and MP for Brighton Kemp Town, Des Turner, has now lost patience. So have we.

How many more children will die and how many more so-called carers will walk away scot-free before you act?

Yours sincerely, Simon Bradshaw, Editor, The Argus