THREE ''middle-class'' teenagers from an ''affluent'' area and ''decent'' homes are convicted of kicking a peer to death. The whole tenet of the coverage was of surprise and forgiveness.

Would the same ambience have been created by a similar incident about three ''working-class'' teenagers from a ''poor'' area? I doubt it! And I thought Scotland was the least class-ridden part of the UK.

Graeme M Mackenzie,

35 Brunstock Close,

Lowry Hill, Carlisle. May 21.

THE details escape me now but when I was very young I can recall reading that a man on trial for murder had said in court, ''I only killed him a wee bit''. Why did these words spring to my mind on reading Lord Eassie's justification for the sentences in the Balerno trial?

William Waddell,

43 Ash Road, Cumbernauld. May 21.