IS it any surprise that people have lost faith in our criminal justice system (‘Astonishing: Killer thug spared jail after burglary’, Daily Echo, July 12)?

Recorder Richard Onslow’s decision to allow 21-year-old Craig Real, leader of the gang that kicked Big Issue seller, Ralph Millward to death in 2009, to walk away with little more than a slap on the wrist, as punishment for a burglary he committed just a few weeks after his release from prison is way beyond ‘astonishing’ – it is utterly incomprehensible.

Real and his accomplices showed absolutely no remorse over the killing of Ralph Millward.

Real’s punishment for his part in that killing? A ludicrously inadequate four years and nine months in prison – and of, course, he was released after serving just half that time.

Surely the burglary was a breach of his conditional release?

At the very least Real should have been sent back to jail to serve the remainder of his sentence.

One has to wonder just what planet judges live on? Real is a vicious antisocial thug who has forfeited his right to live freely among ordinary decent people.

ROBERT READMAN Norwich Avenue West Bournemouth