One of the pitfalls of editorial control over letters is that sometimes the nub is removed so that the printed remnants are misunderstood. That is what happened to my letter that you printed on 17 April. In the version I sent to you I said, in relation to the letter from chief Crown prosecutor Barry Hughes:

I was struck by his sentence: ‘All associate prosecutors are in the process of becoming members of the Institute of Legal Executives’.

Trusting that a lawyer of Mr Hughes’ high standing will always choose his words carefully, I interpret this to mean that none of the associate prosecutors are even members of ILEX yet, let alone fellows. He goes on to say that, when they become members, they will come within ILEX’s regulatory framework, from which I infer that they are not subject to any independent professional supervision at the moment.

The rest of my letter followed from that. It was from Mr Hughes that I took the information that no associate prosecutor is yet a legal executive.

If Richard Lynn (Letters, 30 April) wants to assert that he and his fellows are qualified, then his argument is with Mr Hughes.

Kevin J Beach, Consultant to Preuveneers, Crawley