This headline statement infers that the unpaid work carried out by offenders as part of a community sentence was destroying the local environment, without any regard to local views and without any general direction.

However, any of your readers who took the time to read the article closely and look past the headline were actually well informed about the facts of the situation.

This is especially in relation to the specific fact that the Probation Service teams were working to the instructions of the Bereavement Services team on behalf of Sheffield Council, who obviously have to strike a balance between the needs of the cemetery and the views of local residents, such as Mr Duigbnam.

The Unpaid Work (Community Service) teams carry out over 300,000 hours of work annually in South Yorkshire, with most projects carried out to a successful conclusion without incident.

It is our hope that, in future, any similar reporting of the work we carry out on behalf of the local communities and The Star's readers would benefit from a headline that reflects the content of the article in an accurate manner.

Steve Walker, Team Manager, Unpaid Work Community Service, Sheffield & Rotherham.

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