NORMAL law-abiding people have difficulty in understanding the motivation of arsonists who get their kicks by setting fire to cars.Over the last two days firefighters in Ipswich have had to deal with nine such incidents across the town.

NORMAL law-abiding people have difficulty in understanding the motivation of arsonists who get their kicks by setting fire to cars.

Over the last two days firefighters in Ipswich have had to deal with nine such incidents across the town.

Several have been concentrated in the Gainsborough/Priory Heath area, but other parts of the town have not been immune to these criminals.

Police officers clearly need to crack down on this form of crime before someone is killed or seriously injured - whether it is the arsonists themselves or other road users.

Most cars that are eventually torched are first used illegally by “joy-riders” and before they are finally torched to try to hide the evidence they will have been driven recklessly around the streets - putting other road-users at serious risk.

The epidemic of this sort of car crime has so far not seen anyone ending up in hospital - or in the mortuary - but it has caused a great deal of inconvenience and heartache for the victims whose cars have been stolen and torched.

The police and other emergency services need to take a long hard look at the way they are dealing with this form of crime and try to come up with new strategies to combat the message.

There is already a serious outbreak of car crime in Ipswich. Action is needed now to prevent it from becoming an epidemic.

DOMESTIC violence is a subject that was not treated seriously enough for far too long.

For generations what went on inside personal relationships was simply regarded as a private matter - but thankfully that has changed in recent years.

The establishment of a new domestic violence court in Ipswich is a welcome move and should persuade the victims of this most unpleasant crime that they do not have to suffer in silence.

Over the last few years police officers have received specialist training to deal with the victims of domestic violence and their work will now be backed up by the new court that has sat for the first time.

Domestic violence is an offence that usually happens on the spur of the moment in a moment of rage and often the culprit is genuinely remorseful as soon as the crime has been committed.

The message must get across that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable and will be punished. The domestic violence court is a welcome move in that direction.

RESIDENTS of Bramford are understandably puzzled about the proposals to build an extension to the former Agilent building which overlooks their village.

This is a building whose impact shocked many villagers when it was put up and has never been occupied.

Now there is a application for it to be made even taller, however at the moment it remains empty and there is no indication of what its eventual use may be.

The Ipswich area needs new jobs and new business premises - but it is not unreasonable for the community to expect to know what is coming to their area.

The owners of Landmark House clearly have tenants in mind before putting in an application for such a significant expansion.

It is not unreasonable for the community to at least have an indication of who those tenants may be, or at least what business they are in, before deciding on the future of the building.