Letter: Attacks on women

Sir: With regard to the murder of Rachel Nickell, I am a serving officer with the Metropolitan Police and in the course of my duties I give personal safety talks to various groups of women.

So many times I am horrified at the number of incidents, of either a sexual or a potentially violent nature, that occur to these women and are left unreported. It may be that they feel the incident to be too unimportant, or fear they would receive a negative response from the police.

Whatever the reason, unless women are encouraged to report such incidents to the police, no matter how seemingly unimportant, tragic murders such as Rachel's may sadly be repeated.

Yours sincerely,

ANNA GIDDINGS

London, W1

17 July