5 JANUARY 2008, Page 20

In defence of Ms Gibbons

Sir: How contemptible of Rod Liddle to use his column for an ad hominem attack on Gillian Gibbons (‘The teddy-bear teacher was released too soon’, 8 December). It leaves a sour taste when a journalist lays into a private individual in this way.

Mr Liddle might also care to reflect that if Ms Gibbons praises the warmth of the ordinary Sudanese people, it could be that she is not ‘thick’ or suffering from ‘congenital idiocy’ but that, having actually lived in Sudan, she knows what she is talking about.

David Eddyshaw

Swansea