David Madden's excellent follow-up letter (October 12) to your "Boy is savaged" article reminded me of a recent court case in America.

In Austin, Texas, a jury ordered the owners of a furniture store to award a certain Kathleen Robertson $780,000 in compensation for a broken ankle she had sustained when she tripped over an infant who was crawling around the shop on all fours.

The store manager, who was compelled to pay the sum, could not believe his company was in any way negligible.

The child was, after all, the complainant's own son!

-Dr Barney Johnson, Brighton