"We expect all our staff to be respectful of the dead and treat them with the utmost dignity at all times. I offer my sincere apologies to the family of any person who may have been abused in this way."Although no one could imagine anyone carrying out these appalling acts, we have made absolutely sure it cannot happen again by stopping anyone from working alone in the mortuary and keeping it locked at all other times.''. A stowaway thief allegedly tried to steal £1.5m from a British Airways plane in a "James Bond"-style robbery, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. The court heard how experts believedthe damage to the cargo hold could have greatly increased the risk of fire and could have damaged the fire protection system.Mr Hehir said the alleged thief had been smuggled into the hold of the plane on 26 January 2000 at Heathrow. He cut two slits in the lining of the special valuables hold and placed a plastic bag containing flat-packed express-handling boxes, various tools and bags of ballast. He climbed inside and taped the slits closed as the plane made its way to Spain.There, new passengers got on and six plastic valuable holders containing £1.5m in pesetas were loaded into the hold, Mr Hehir said.On the return flight, the stowaway climbed out and constructed the boxes But things did not go to plan, Mr Hehir said The man cut himself, leaving blood samples. He had intended to empty the money from the six boxes into one large box and refill them with ballast.

But he realised the green nail varnish he had brought would not hide his attempts to seal the boxes.So, Mr Hehir said, he decided to "cut his losses" and placed the damaged box containing more than £200,000 in the express delivery box, and himself in the other.Mr Hehir told the court: "He might well have succeeded if loaders at Heathrow had not dropped the box, forcing him to run off .. The lid of the box fell off and a man fell out The loaders were absolutely flabbergasted One thought it was a dead body. He [Mr Watson] ran off telling one of the loaders: 'Don't worry about me, I'll be all right.' "Mr Hehir continued: "This was a bold and daring attempt to steal money .. a cunning plan ... A thief, no matter how much his activities may smack of a James Bond adventure, is still just a thief."Mr Watson later claimed he had been in West Africa at the time of the alleged theft attempt but the prosecution said he did not have a valid passport for the period.. The recent downgrading of cannabis from a class-B to a class-C drug has given fuel to an already fiery debate over the merits of legalising drugs. Several senior figures, from high-ranking police officers to politicians, philosophers and judges, have spoken out in favour of such a move, provoking the outrage of more conservative commentators.

One striking feature of the arguments on both sides is their permeating vagueness in terms of factual information - caused in no small part by contradictory research. It is crucial, then, to admit that most contributions to the debate - this included - are based not necessarily on evidence but rather on pre-existing moral, social and political views. Britain's "war on drugs" strategy, implementing policies based on police clampdowns and criminal sanctions, is apparently of little effect, as testified by the evidence that our drug problem is one of the worst in Europe. Countries with more relaxed laws, such as the Netherlands, have a far better record. Naturally, to divorce the misuse of drugs from wider social problems such as unemployment, poverty, class alienation and poor education is highly artificial, and the success of Dutch policy is surely linked to high standards of living and a more equal society than is evident in the UK.

Nevertheless, to impose strict sanctions on drug abusers merely exacerbates the problem, for several practical reasons.First, it hands over the supply and control of illegal drugs to criminal gangs, whose sphere extends far beyond the realm of dealing and into areas such as money-laundering, human-trafficking, prostitution and terrorism. The financial power wielded by such groups clearly stems from the drug market and means that they have an interest in retaining the "war on drugs", as it keeps drug prices buoyant and therefore gives them high profits.Further, many of the deaths attributed to hard drugs are in fact the result of dealers stretching the amount they have for sale by "cutting" substances with household chemicals The legalisation of drugs would facilitate quality controls. In addition, it would diminish the power of the gangs by undercutting black-market prices, which are swollen by the high risks involved in illegal trafficking. The Government's aim to help Afghanistan to reduce its production of opium by 70 per cent by 2008 will only inflate prices further and enhance the already documented need of addicts to turn to crime in order to fund their habit.The existence of that need is in itself further justification for the legalisation of both soft and hard drugs. Many offences in this country are known to be committed by drug abusers, either while under the influence or in order to pay their suppliers. The availability, on prescription, of currently illegal substances, and possibly their administration by medical staff, would help to prevent this, first by providing a safe environment in which addicts might succumb to the drugs' effects, and second by diminishing the financial burdens on them.Similarly, it has become apparent that drug misuse in prisons is prolific, and that an enormous number of addicts do not receive sufficient or indeed any treatment while serving sentences, with the effect that their dependency merely worsens.