30 JUNE 2007, Page 30

Backing Black

Sir: Charles Moore is right to point out that the world's media have been 'greedily clamouring' for a guilty verdict in the case of Conrad Black (The Spectator's Notes, 16 June). It seems very odd — to say the least — that so many journalists should apparently wish to deny the presumption of innocence to anyone, let alone to someone who was an excellent newspaper proprietor, including of The Spectator.

William Shawcross St Mawes, Cornwall