IT is impossible to imagine the daily torment suffered by the family of York murder victim William Birnie. Mr Birnie died an horrific death, the details of which will haunt his loved ones forever.

One comfort was the knowledge that his killer, Stephen Loft, was serving a life sentence in prison. But now even that belief has been shattered. It has emerged that Loft was moved to a psychiatric hospital three years ago; yet no one informed the Birnie family.

Their anguish has been exacerbated by this unfortunate breakdown in communications. Someone involved in Loft's transfer to Rampton should have spared a thought for his victim's family. The fact that they did not only confirms that crime victims are still too low a priority within our justice system.

In recent years, efforts have been made to change that. The latest initiative, announced by Home Secretary Jack Straw last month, is to allow victims to tell courts of the long-lasting repercussions of their experience.

This innovation has come ten years too late for the Birnies, even if they were able to put their nightmare into words. But the Victims' Charter, up and running since 1996, should have helped them: it states that murder victims' families have the right to know of the offender's progress through the prison system.

The charter failed them. When Loft left the prison system to go to a secure hospital the family were not informed.

The prison authorities cannot turn back the clock. But they can attempt to make reparations. Firstly, they should apologise unreservedly to the Birnie family. Secondly, the Home Office should improve the Victims' Charter to ensure that this error is not repeated.

A Government spokeswoman could only give a half-hearted assurance that the same thing will not happen again to someone else. That is not good enough. As she so rightly said: "A victim is still a victim, whether or not the offender is a prisoner or patient."