Locals and visitors alike would know Dracaena Avenue as an attractive gateway to our town; a wide road fringed by exotic plants and playing fields on one side, and quality semi-detached housing on the other. Homes to families, pensioners and students alike.

In short, a far cry from Defence Barrister Ramsey Quaife’s opinion that his client, convicted of rape, “Is not someone who spent his life in a bedsit on Dracaena Avenue, in Falmouth injecting himself, drinking, etcetera”. (Packet 22-08-18 p.8)

This gratuitously offence slur offends 2 groups. Firstly the people who live on this road who, contrary to Mr Quaife’s description are overwhelming decent and law abiding. Secondly the staff and patients at the highly successful Addaction unit at the Dracaena Centre who work hard to tackle these difficult issues stemming out of complex causes.

The patients there come from far and wide, not just Dracaena Avenue, and to the best of my knowledge cause no issues for local people. They deserve support, not a casual insult stereotyping them as people somehow not as worthy as Mr Quaife’s client. An apology is in order here.

Christopher Smith