25 JANUARY 2003, Page 28

The crime of curiosity

From Mr B.H. Highton Sir: Does it not occur to anyone that the motive of at least some of the 7,000 British men who have accessed child pornography on the Internet was simple, innocent curiosity (Leading article, 18 January)? With all the media emphasis on paedophilia, surely some of us would wonder what it was all about, and some of us might be tempted to find out from the Internet. Do such people deserve to have their lives and reputations destroyed? I have absolutely no idea what these Internet images are, but I can quite understand the wish of some people to find out — much, I have no doubt, to their subsequent horror. Pandora was not responsible for the horrors released from her box.

Basil Hightan

Norwich, Norfolk