The jailing of Paris Mayo (Teenager Paris Mayo sentenced to at least 12 years for murder of newborn son, 26 June) should bring us up short. What on earth are we doing when current penal policy suggests that this is an appropriate sentence for a child offender who killed her newborn child but who, in the judge’s words, was “vulnerable” and “ill-supported at home”? What purpose does such a lengthy minimum sentence serve?
Prof Rod Morgan
Former chief inspector of probation; ex-chairman, Youth Justice Board
• In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, it is said that hardly any MP is worth painting, though many “would be better for a little whitewashing”. This Tory party would need gallons of the stuff (Partygate: Rees-Mogg and Dorries likely to be named in ‘contempts of parliament’ report, 28 June).
Fred Lowe
Furbo, County Galway, Ireland
