So two 17-year-olds have been found guilty of grievous bodily harm on an airman after they left him unconscious and with a badly broken ankle, requiring seven screws and a metal plate in his leg (Oxford Mail, July 1).

They will be there for the rest of his life.

As usual, the teenagers will probably receive some pathetic sentence.

However, while this annoys me, it's the fact that yet another judge seems to think that criminals should be protected by stopping your paper from naming them.

You report: ''The judge refused to lift reporting restrictions because she said it was not in the public interest for people to know who the defendants were, and because of the problems it would cause their families."

No wonder this country is going to pot.

It is time this country started dealing with criminals as criminals, no matter what age they are.

Criminals hide behind their human rights - as criminals, they have no human rights.

They don't think about their victims' rights.

It's time this country got back to having proper deterrents to would-be criminals and proper sentences.

I bet they would want this if the crime was against one of their family.

MIKE HICKMAN Long Hanborough