THE danger in giving readers a lesson in English usage is that you fall flat on your face.

The Reverend Peter Mullen certainly did this in his tirade against all and sundry over the recent trials of Asian men who abused white girls (Echo, Oct 2).

He objects to the use of the word “grooming” when applied to these crimes since he says the word only refers to “something that is done to horses”.

That is nonsense. Like many words, grooming has several meanings including to prepare someone for a future role or purpose, such as “the young priest was groomed to be archbishop”. Certainly these girls were, most wretchedly, prepared for a purpose.

Mr Mullen does not accept the word community may be applied to a subset of the population - as in the Asian community. He is wrong again. The term may be applied to any social, religious, occupational or other group sharing common characteristics or interests.

The thrust of Mr Mullen’s anger though is the “cowering impotence of police and others” who fail to bring these Muslim miscreants to book.

Who on earth does Mr Mullen believe investigated, arrested and prosecuted these men? The police got them and now they are banged up for a very long time.

They have been afforded no preferential treatment, no positive discrimination.

There may well be an interpretation of Muslim scripture that encourages a dismissive attitude to young, white girls, but the recent trials and sentencing have shown that is totally unacceptable in this country. We should rejoice in that.

Rob Meggs, Hartlepool