THE sister of murdered Bolton woman Liz Sherlock is in London today to ask Tony Blair to give more support to the families of Crime victims.

Mrs Sherlock's sister, Dr Janet McKenzie, will be delivering a letter to the Prime Minister along with Denise Fergus and Sara Payne, the mothers of Jamie Bulger and Sarah Payne, asking him for help for relatives who are left to cope on their own.

Dr McKenzie said that there is no system in place to help her and her family cope with her sister's death following the subsequent trial.

Police family liaison officers do a good job but once the trial is over, all support ends.

Mrs Sherlock was killed last Easter when she was deliberately run down in the street outside Euston Station while trying to retrieve her handbag which had been snatched by a thief.

Dr McKenzie, a lecturer at Anglia University, is now campaigning on behalf of the Victims of Crime Trust.

It is strange that criminals are turned into celebrities while their victims are ignored or forgotten.

It is never easy to lose a loved one, and to lose them to murder must be soul-destroying.

We agree with Dr McKenzie. Victims' families must have help.

A nation's favourite will be sadly missed

SOME of the older people amongst us will remember him for Redcap, others for The Sweeney.

Almost everyone will know him for Kavanagh QC, and you would have to have lived on Mars if you didn't enjoy Morse.

John Thaw has pleased television, film and theatre-goers since he first stepped onto the professional stage in 1960.

He was an actor who everyone admired. His name on the cast list of a series or a one-off drama would ensure a huge audience simply because he was in it.

Manchester born, he played classless characters that were always believable -- even the boorish Inspector Jack Regan in The Sweeney.

The only time his Northern roots were hinted at were during the Kavanagh series, where his barrister character came from Bolton.

He will be missed by fans, family and friends.