OUTRAGE and disbelief have met the Government's plans to jail fewer burglars.

Victims of burglary are often so affected by the experience they only begin to feel safe again when they know the offender is behind bars.

Imagine, then, how much more traumatised a victim of a violent break-in must be.

Helmsley postmaster Geoff Simpson was hospitalised after being beaten up by three masked raiders who used a chainsaw to force their way in. His many injuries will heal quicker than the mental scars.

For fellow postmaster David Sell, news of that attack was the last straw. In the early hours of the day of the Helmsley attack, burglars had tried to break in to his home above Hovingham post office.

Mr Sell fears the gang will return. His post office has already been raided by robbers with knives, and he does not want to put his staff through another ordeal, so he has closed the business.

His fears are far from irrational. Police are linking the Hovingham and Helmsley incidents with another Ryedale post office break-in last month.

Post offices are easy targets for thieves, particularly in rural areas far from a police station. Post Office Limited must do more to protect the likes of Geoff Simpson and David Sell, otherwise there will be no one left willing to provide this vital service.

It should improve the way it warns postmasters of raiders in the area. And it should dispatch a team of counsellors and security experts to a post office immediately after a break-in, to give support and advice.

That, at least, would show the company recognises the level of trauma caused by these raids.

Updated: 11:43 Friday, January 17, 2003