THERE'LL be few people who aren't disturbed by Monday's vile sex attack involving two young girls.

Many will wonder why it has taken until Thursday - and a call from the victims' parents to this paper - for news of the Droitwich incident to break.

Police haven't gone on the record to explain the 48-hour gap between it happening and details being widely released.

In their defence, they have told schools and enquiries have been ongoing "in the area".

And, in the past, they've cited various reasons for such a period of silence.

The fear of crime is one - in effect, they don't want the public to worry unnecessarily.

The need to glean reliable information from victims and witnesses is another.

That's all very well. But we have one chief concern today - and we believe it will echo in homes across the region.

However many good reasons there were to maintain what amounted to a news blackout, there was one over-riding reason why parents and children across Droitwich - and well beyond - had the right to know what had happened.

We have little doubt that, in some circles, we'll be criticised for saying so, but we have to assume that the attacker has the capability, as well as the urge, to strike anywhere else at any time.

If he'd done so before news was made widely public, the victims and their parents would have had every cause to ask why no warning was given.

The name Soham, surely, resonates loudly enough across the land for that to be obvious, understood and justified.