There will be many people today who feel sorry for Phillip Carmichael, a man whose life has been ravaged by drugs he took for Parkinson's Disease.

The 58-year-old former primary school teacher, who has suffered from the debilitating disease since 1996, was apparently turned into a paedophile by taking pills he took to halt the progress of the illness.

Carmichael, once a pillar of the community, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of making and possessing indecent images of child abuse.

Yesterday, in a landmark decision, Judge Mary Jane Mowatt ruled his behaviour was "wholly" caused by taking these two drugs.

Whatever your opinion, attention must now turn to why the authorities appeared so slow in acting on information that these drugs could cause perverted sexual behaviour. The health authorities has known about a believed link between these drugs and so-called "hypersexuality" after the Parkinson's Disease Society reported it to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Today the question is, when will these drugs be withdrawn and an investigation launched?

Carmichael has been forced to sign the Sex Offender's Register, but remarkably remains free to work with children in the future.

The need to act now is pressing. Who is to say that next time someone suffering from hyper- sexuality caused by taking pills doesn't snatch a child from the streets to satisfy their needs?