ALTHOUGH councillors should be commended for deciding to spend £400,000 on upgrading Worcester’s CCTV network, it’s a shame that it took the death of a student to prompt them to improve the city’s cameras.

Everyone knows about the tragedy that unfolded this September, when University of Worcester student Tom Jones went missing after a night out and was then found dead in the river.

The 18-year-old was believed to have crossed Sabrina Bridge just before he vanished, and had the CCTV camera overlooking that spot been working at the time, vital information on his final movements would have been available to aid the search.

There was a public outcry after the Worcester News reported that the camera wasn’t working, and city councillors have admitted that the search for, and death of, Tom “highlighted” that the CCTV network was outdated.

But why did it take a public tragedy for councillors to realise the CCTV wasn’t fit for purpose any more? Surely this was flagged up earlier, as attempts to identify criminals were thwarted by a lack of, or poor, CCTV footage.