Only months ago we were treated to the hype and hysteria of the American Presidential election - a farce if ever there was one. Now we have to suffer the very public and detailed description of the destruction of a killer who, even by American standards, is a one-off.

Timothy McVeigh, a cold-blooded mass-murderer, got just what he wanted - publicity for his "cause" and a blow-by-blow account of his long-delayed and well-deserved extermination. Why on earth his execution could not have been quietly handled years ago without the vast expense arising out of appeals which were never justified is beyond me.

What is it about the American psyche that demands a national event out of even the execution of a killer, making this person appear almost a martyr, instead of the monster he had proved himself to be?

I don't know which are the worst; the ghouls who produced this nasty show, or those who watched - the latter little better than those who gloated and jeered while watching the guillotine perform its

bloody work during the French Revolution.

I expect that money-grabbing factions of the movie industry are already rubbing their hands in glee while contemplating a film of the life and demise of McVeigh.

I would not be surprised if someone, somewhere, made a video of McVeigh's last hours, so that the thrill-seeking American public can repeat its enjoyment of this unsavoury show at leisure.

The depths to which some people can sink for sensation and real-life horror is obviously without limit.

Heather Causnett,

Escrick Park Gardens,

Escrick

Updated: 11:26 Friday, June 15, 2001