I HAVE read about the appalling animal neglect in Sheriff Hutton Park and am shocked at the revoltingly light sentence given to Pamela and Joseph Palmer.

If Hilary Gilbertson thinks that a suspended sentence will “demonstrate the abhorrence of the public”, she is wrong. The pair should have received prison sentences and higher fines.

Our justice system is a joke. We should have a way of holding magistrates to account for the sentences they hand out.

Richard Brennan, Oxfordshire.