We in the Liberal Party wonder what has become of the sense of priority in this country.

In the week that a gang of youths were convicted of the senseless murder of a family man outside his home in Warrington officials from Hackney Council have chosen to prosecute a pensioner for the grave and weighty crime of selling fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces.

The murder of Garry Newlove has shocked the nation and sparked an overdue debate about gang culture, teenage drinking and how to police this yob culture which appears to rule the streets.

 In response to this Hackney Council have chosen to bring a prosecution against Janet Devers for using imperial weights on her market stall in response to requests from her customers.

 We wonder how much of the council's time and money has been spent on this pointless legal action. We can only assume that Hackey is a utopia where there are no problems with unrulely youths or anti-social behaviour to the extent that council officials have nothing better to do than take the high handed descision to persecute Ms Devers through the Courts.

The council officials have defended their actions, stating that they were 'only doing their duty'. Such a statement is not far removed from the traditional defence of 'only obeying orders'.

The prosecution will doubtless come as a surprise to Gunter Verheugen, the EU Commissioner, who recently stated that there was no such law which prevented the use of imperial weights and measures in this way. He stated that such laws were the invention of the British tabloid press. Ms Devers now knows better. Perhaps Mr Verheugen will will give evidence in her defence.

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Wood

Chair of the Policy Committee The Liberal Party