Assuming guilt

sir – The proposition put forward by a parish officer that the maxim of “innocent until proven guilty” should be reversed in matters of church safeguarding (Letters, March 27) is utterly pernicious.

How is anyone to defend themselves against charges relating to an action that is alleged to have occurred decades before, and is based on no more than the word of one person? To place the onus of proving innocence on the accused, as opposed to the need for the accuser to prove guilt, is contrary to our most basic freedoms and undermines the rule of law. Colin Bullen

Tonbridge, Kent