JUDGE Ian Pringle QC is to be congratulated for his compassion and breadth of vision, in considering a non-custodial sentence for the Christ Church college medical student, Lavinia Woodward.

From the account given in the Oxford Mail (May 16), her offence arose from her drug addiction, which is a terrible condition and one that will, for her, entail a lifelong struggle to overcome.

Her talent and potential in medicine hold out the possibility for her to do a very great deal of good for others during that lifetime: a possibility that risks being lost if the law is applied in a heavy-handed way.

Judge Pringle is doing an important public service by indicating that he is considering sparing Miss Woodward from prison.

It is to be hoped that he will follow through on this plan, when it comes to sentencing in September.

JAKE LYNCH

Marlborough Court Duke Street, Oxford