SIR — Like many others, I was rudely awoken from a deep sleep on Sunday night by the thundering of a helicopter overhead and my house illuminated by searchlights. Having eliminated the possibility that I was unwittingly harbouring a wanted criminal, I won

SIR - Like many others, I was rudely awoken from a deep sleep on Sunday night by the thundering of a helicopter overhead and my house illuminated by searchlights. Having eliminated the possibility that I was unwittingly harbouring a wanted criminal, I wondered what on earth could be so serious to necessitate this?

While my partner attempted to reinforce our locked doors (just in case) and consider what, if any, implements we could pass off as weapons, my imagination started to run away with me. Were the mean streets of London extending to our suburban town? Was there some kind of gang-related turf war occurring on the doorstep? Had a dangerous convict escaped from HMP The Mount and somehow made it all the way to St Albans undetected?

And then I remembered a recent story about how the police helicopters helped locate a missing pensioner. Surely all this commotion couldn't be for an escapee of an entirely different sort? Could it? While I appreciate that the police have got a job to do, I'm perplexed? Can anyone enlighten me as to what on earth was going on?

ANNA HEMMINGS,

Watsons Walk, St Albans.