A MAN says ‘I’m just going to freshen up’ but then doesn’t come back from the toilet and runs off instead.

The start of a bad joke? No, it is in fact a story this week about a murder suspect, held in custody, about to get on the bus to court. Quite apart from having an accused murderer wandering off as he pleases, what about the appalling waste of public money and court time?

Now, I’m not saying he should be breaking rocks before being convicted, but surely someone should be keeping an eye on him? Once convicted, hard labour under the watchful eye of at least semi-alert guards would be good.

And hi-vis vests printed with the prisoner’s details wouldn’t go amiss. My views on corporal and capital punishment have been well documented in the past so I won’t bore you by repeating them again — though I still find it remarkable Parliament can remain so out of step with public opinion.

However, the general subject of criminals and punishment got me thinking. Some years ago we ran a very successful campaign called Shop A Yob which gave readers the opportunity to identify scores of scumbags and force them to face justice.

The photographs were supplied by a whole host of organisations and groups, bus companies, shopping centres, train operators, car parks, petrol stations, councils and, of course, the police.

But now, for some reason, we are no longer supplied with these pictures and the opportunity for you to play your part in bringing criminals to justice has been lost.

I would therefore like to use this opportunity to appeal to anyone seeking to bring offenders to justice to once again allow us and our readers to play their part in making our community a safer place.