We should be grateful that Joe Beltrami, the legendary Scottish criminal lawyer, took the time to comment on the direction in which Scots law is heading.

I was appalled by the Lockerbie trial and remember how Richard Keen, now Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, shredded a prosecution which should never have been brought. That farrago was not as disturbing as the trend being followed in rape trials where the mere word of the complainant is rapidly becoming sufficient for conviction.

Rev Dr John Cameron,

10 Howard Place, St Andrews.