IN response to your article "Should life mean life?" (September 30), my brother Daniel was horrifically murdered in a Gillygate flat on December 1, 2003. His murderer, John Paul Marshall, was given two life sentences with a tariff of 18 years.

In my opinion murderers gave up any rights to a life in the real world or any freedom when they made the decision to end a person's life. Why should any murderer have freedom to look forward to?

The families of murder victims have to live every day with the nightmare of what happened. It is the families that are given the life sentences, not the murderers. It's time that changed - why should murderers have any rights at all?

My family are not even allowed to know what prison my brother's murderer is in because of his right to privacy. Well no one had the right to take my brother's life.

Why should myself and my family have the extra worry that in 16 years my brother's killer - a double murderer - could be roaming the streets?

These type of people should never be trusted. If an animal bites or is vicious it is put to sleep so why let any convicted murderer roam our streets?

If Jackie Knights were a relative of a murder victim, her opinion would be different. I sincerely hope she never is because it is a living nightmare. Nobody can understand what devastation murder causes to a victim's family unless they are living through it.

It is not a thing you ever get over, it gets harder not easier, but you have to live with it.

So life should 100 per cent mean life in a top-security prison.

Rebecca Wall,

Barkston Avenue,

Acomb, York.

Updated: 09:22 Wednesday, October 05, 2005