SO now we know what has happened to the prisoner in the old town gaol. It has become yet another victim of our local authority’s longterm plan to sterilise Andover; the latest in a long line of attempts to dismantle the living daylights out of the place until it resembles something more akin to a bombed-out version of Slough or Nuneaton.

Is it any wonder the town continues to head rapidly downhill when the council persists in systematically eroding every fibre of what makes our town unique?

The mannequin may well have been ‘quirky’, but I would rather have the town and its ‘attractions’ described as such, rather than as boring; which is the road Andover currently appears to be taking.

The only problem the gaol had was that it was never maintained, and so filled up over the years with all manner of windblown detritus; the glass eventually becoming so dirty that it was almost impossible to see through the filth to the dummy within.

The prisoner should be returned before it becomes yet another example of our council’s pursuance of its ‘heritage cleansing policy’; up there with the floral clock, the bandstand, the walled meadow, the cenotaph and just about everything else in the town which has ever had any kind of cultural or historical significance.

I know Mr Carr tried to make light of the issue, but his poor attempt at humour (you really should stick to the day job – whatever that is) belies our council’s true agenda; that they wish to make the town as boring and facile as possible, until we all just give up, pull down the shutters, and leave.

If it were up to me, I would have our ‘illustrious leader’ stuffed, mounted and locked up in the gaol as a replacement.

Dr Bob Roberts, Millway Road, Andover