Guilty or not (an appeal will follow), I was a bit taken aback by the vitriolic lynch-mob commentaries of both The Argus and the readers' letters with regard to the Hoogstraten verdict, the contents of which would usually be reserved for the child-molesting chapter of our society.

Amazingly, The Argus managed to assemble 12 pages on Hoogstraten within hours of the verdict being received and all the brave little townsfolk are emerging from the woodwork with a story to tell. It is not unlike Dodge City after Wyatt Earp had passed through.

Hoogstraten is getting worse press than Fred West and why? Because he is rich, successful and flaunts his wealth with eccentricity.

He has what every "wannabe" dreams of in this debt-ridden society - money (his own) and power - and is more reviled for that than for any crime he could commit,

When people seek sympathy in this PC-infested nation, you will always hear the words pensioner, child, asylum and tenant.

I have seen for myself the activities of a minority of tenants, some of which would make the average person in ignorance of reality physically sick.

With regard to sharp practice and bully-boy tactics, what about the Place To Be council and its parking regime of pure extortion and numbing insistence that a beach party that decimated a beach was a success, of banks that have leeched at the arteries of small business for years, of conniving and scheming boardrooms who took pension holidays, converting their contributions into profit and trousering the proceeds between themselves and their shareholders at the expense, as usual, of the dumb and innocent.

Up against these highly-organised and unsavoury people, Hoogstraten is a mere puff-ball.

Just how safe is the evidence against Hoogstraten if the "killer" and "gotcha" diatribe were removed? Both Sussex Police, who instigated proceedings, and the Met are desperate for a high-profile success.

Never having met Hoogstraten, I cannot say whether I like him or not. He certainly seems no worse a person than the detritus mentioned above, we shall have to wait and see.

-Paul Butterfill, Old Shoreham Road, Shoreham