Rebekah Wade allegedly committed an act of domestic violence but was set free without charge. The question is, why the double standard?

Had Ross Kemp given Ms Wade a fat lip just imagine what the Sun newspaper she works for would have made of the story!

You can see the lurid headline now and the brash calls for an end to domestic violence against all women.

Ms Wade would have interpreted the assault as a typical "power and control" incident by a man over a "helpless" woman.

Kemp would have been charged with domestic abuse because, irrespective of whether or not Ms Wade wanted him charged, according to Ken Livingstone and the government, the wishes of the person assaulted should not prevent justice being done.

He would have found himself subject of an exclusion order keeping him away from the home and Ms Wade. He would be prevented from having contact with any children on the grounds that he had proved himself an unfit parent because of his violence.

The publicity surrounding his arrest would certainly cost him his job and all his friends.

Rebekah Wade, on the other hand, walks free on the basis that she is female.

The message sent by this episode is that female abusers of men are above the laws that apply to male abusers of females.

The message sent, yet again, to male victims of abuse is a simple one. Don't report her violence because if you do the police, the government and, if you live in London, the mayor, will not take you seriously.

It is not strange in this day and age that when people like Ms Wade insist on equality for women they suddenly become silent when it is men who are on the end of unequal treatment before the law and the press.

The police at Wandsworth, the government and Ms Wade have a lot to answer for over this incident. Perhaps it is time to ask the right questions.

George Rolph, Capstone Road, Downham