10 AUGUST 2002, Page 26

Witching hour

From Mr Brandon Withey Sir: I would request a retraction of Barnaby Jones's assertion that 'witches do not exist' ('Sex crime', 3 August). We do, and have for centuries, but thankfully today we are not seen by the majority as Satanists, defilers of innocents or butcherers of children. We witches are followers of a naturebased religion, who believe everyone must find their own way to deity, and who revere the cycle of the life-death-rebirth evident in all parts of nature.

Brandon Withey

Centralia, Kansas