The letter from the gay man who suffered abuse from his father as a child, arguing against the old and appalling slur that homosexuals are unsafe with children (Letters, May 23), brought me to tears of sympathy.

I, too, was abused as a boy but by my mother and, as a result, I grew up to be a paedophile. I never committed abuse, either directly or indirectly (by using pornography), and was lucky to be offered psychotherapeutic treatment which wholly cured me.

That was more than 30 years ago.

Your correspondent was so right to argue passionately against the demonisation of gay people with that slur. But what of the demonisation of non-abusing paedophiles, which goes on routinely, without challenge?

Imagine what it must be like to be a young man or woman coming to the dreadful realization that you are sexually attracted to children.

All around you, the media say you are a "sex beast", a "pervert" and that you are incurable.

Unless you are lucky to access the rare NHS treatment facilities, as I did, you will sink into despair. And despair is what makes paedophiles abuse.

Like gay people, I was shocked by Peter Willow's remarks.

I would like to believe, however, they could be used as a jumping-off point for combating ingrained myths such as that paedophilia cannot be cured and that all paedophiles betray themselves and commit child abuse.

Let's have some of the light of understanding as well as the heat of outrage.

-Name and address supplied