David Leach it is said was a man of previous good character before he started dabbling in Internet chatrooms. His electronic visits eventually led to the pervert sexually assaulting young boys and posting pictures of them on the Internet.

It was said at his court hearing that he had been carried along with the depraved activity and a spate of truly horrible offending. It is a pity that once he has served his sentence here he cannot be sent back to face the courts in Thailand, the scene of many of his perverted offences.

Internet chatrooms were high on the world agenda this week after 12-year-old Shevaun Pennington disappeared with an American ex-marine. The nation breathed a huge sigh of relief when she was reunited with her parents, apparently safe and well.

There is of course no link between the two cases mentioned in any shape or form, apart from Internet chatrooms and calls for new regulations to control them.

But the demands for action to control these chat-rooms, condemned as a menace to children's safety, must be carefully considered and seen in proportion.

For example, one argument says that chatrooms get children writing and allows the shyest of youngsters to communicate with others all over the world.

But like every development through the ages, chat-rooms have brought unwanted problems. Mass printing allowed pornography to flood the market; film, video, DVD and CD along with digital cameras have had a similar effect.Television programmes are sinking to new depths.

Action on chatrooms must be considered but not on a wave of hysteria. While the sensible considered debate goes on, surely parental responsibility and education for families must be the key.

Mobile phones and children also figure on many agendas. Once again the advantages and disadvantages have to be weighed against each other.

Consider this. It seems that if Shevaun hadn't had a mobile phone and used it to call home, technical experts wouldn't have been able to trace her to Germany.