Was it a crime to burn Grenfell Tower effigy?

IN THE week that saw further deaths on our streets in the knife-crime epidemic and a pathetic response from the criminal justice system, our attention was diverted to a so-called hate crime involving the burning of an effigy of Grenfell Tower. This tasteless act was perpetrated by a bunch of idiots, but the fact that it kicked off a storm of indignation, and saw the police involved, sums up where we are as a society. It would seem that being non-PC and/or committing a hate crime is worthy of greater condemnation than carrying a knife. The irony of this would seem to be that the senseless killing of a fellow human being is not regarded as hateful.

KEVIN COLEY, leicester.

RATHER than the police wasting their time over the burning of a model of Grenfell tower on a bonfire, how about investigating why there was inflammable cladding on the tower block in the first place. What is the state of play with prosecutions? Why did the fire service fail to evacuate the building once it was obvious the conflagration was out of control? how many buildings, including homes, schools, hospitals and offices, have been built from dangerous materials that give off toxic fumes in a fire? Does the law require all landlords to fit smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in their properties?

S. D. LITTLE, Crowborough, E. Sussex.

PUTTING a model of Grenfell Tower on a bonfire may be shocking, offensive and sickening, but I can’t see how it can be a crime. What about the effigies of Boris Johnson and Theresa May that were set ablaze at the Lewes bonfire?

IAN DUNLOP, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.