I HOPE that I am not without compassion but the treatment afforded to escaped criminal Biggs has appalled me and I am sure millions of other law abiding citizens.

The number of police in nine cars and vans? at Northolt Airfield were reminiscent of the arrival of a 'Head of State' and must have called into question the comments of various police forces who persistently complain of shortages in manpower.

If Biggs is so very ill one ambulance would have been sufficient to have conveyed him to the £2,000 per week top security Belmarsh Prison. He will receive immediate top priority treatment on the National Health Service that he has not contributed to for almost 35 years when tens of thousands of people have been waiting years for vital operations.

He was a member of a gang that destroyed the life of a train driver and if we as a nation continue to worship common criminals then the future for the United Kingdom is indeed very bleak.

Biggs chose life in Brazil and should have been left there. If his finances had run out as reported, after living a lifestyle most dream about, his family and friends should have had a whip-round and not let the State that he deserted pick up the tab.

Alan Page

Curzon Avenue

Hazlemere