Dear Editor,

I refer to a letter captioned "Waiting five years for trial" [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ] (11/03/02).

In my view this amounts to a blatant violation of Christopher Noel's constitutional rights to a speedy trial, and I am sure there are many more like him languishing in our overcrowded, understaffed prisons.

There is a magistrate who remands prisoners even for trivial offences like behaving in a disorderly manner, I feel she contributes to the overcrowding. The Chancellor of the Judiciary echoed these sentiments recently when she said magistrates should take the blame.