IN response to Mr Wilson’s letter (Tuesday’s Oxford Mail), there appeared to be a few misunderstandings concerning the beleaguered Chandlers (kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean) that need to be clarified.

Firstly, there is the idea that paying a ransom will set a precedent and so encourage further kidnaps. Well, the precedent has already been set.

A commercial deal had reportedly been arranged to release these poor travellers for £100,000, and not the million pound sum that is being repeatedly quoted in the press. This was an advance from anticipated media deals, as the story will generate a fortune.

The money is not coming from the Government, and it is not against British law to pay a ransom.

The person who brokered the deal to free them was Nick Davis chairman of the Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre.

The pirates had agreed to accept the money and the Chandlers were to be released. He told me that the Foreign Office deliberately sabotaged the whole operation.

The same thing happened when hostages were taken in Iraq.

The Foreign Office appeared to do nothing to help the families.

I hope Nick Davis remembers the SAS motto ‘He who dares wins’, and manages to secure their release.

Susan Thomas, Magdalen Road, Oxford