PHILIP LAWRENCE was a fine man and a good headmaster. Though he could have found an easier posting, he chose to work in a school with a lot of difficult children. Boys from another school attacked some of Mr Lawrence’s pupils. Intervening to keep the peace, he was murdered.

After such a crime, it is not only the murderer who receives a life sentence. So does the victim’s family — and there is a difference. Murderers are given a tariff. They serve it, and they will be released. But there is no release date for grief.

The boy who murdered Philip Lawrence was given a 12-year tariff, now coming to the end. He is being prepared for release. The prospect of her husband’s murderer returning to freedom has driven Sarah Lawrence to bitterness and anger. She has condemned the decision as an insult to her family’s feelings. She is wrong.

At the time of the offence, the murderer was only 15. He did not come from an advantaged background (perhaps he would have been less dangerous if he had attended Mr Lawrence’s school). It could be argued that nothing except a death could atone for a murder. But unless we base all penal justice on an eye for an eye, a 12-year sentence seems about right for a 15-year-old murderer. Imagine what it would be like to spend the years between 15 and 27 in jail.

A thousand years ago in Anglo-Saxon England, the victims of a crime got a large say in the criminal’s sentence. This is still true in some Islamic countries; we do not regard that as an improvement on our own practice. In the early Middle Ages, with the slow growth of the rule of law, the power of sentencing passed to judges. The principle that no man can be a judge in his own cause also applies to the victims of crime.

Judges take a dispassionate view and can balance all the interests involved. There seems no reason to question the trial judge’s verdict. It should also be noted that the murderer will not be released unconditionally. For the rest of his life he will be on licence. If he commits another crime, even well short of murder, he will be recalled to his life sentence.

Philip Lawrence would not have wished his relatives to succumb to bitterness on his behalf. So we can only hope that the proud memories of her husband’s career and sacrifice bring Sarah Lawrence comfort and, ultimately, peace.