Under the headline 'Asylum seekers', Veronica Edwards (Letters, April 18) does what every well-meaning liberal does, which is to provide a generic description of asylum seekers as "some of the most vulnerable people in this world."

There are, of course, many asylum seekers who can rightly be categorised that way, but equally, there are many who cannot.

There are asylum seekers who make false claims of terror or fear in order to be allowed to get into and remain in another country, such as the UK.

Even of those who may be in genuine danger in their own country, the question should be asked: why do so many of them quite deliberately pass through countless safe countries, in order to make Britain their new home?

Indeed, there was a widely publicised case of an 18-year-old student recently, who was being sent back to Mauritius, from where she had arrived two years ago, with her mother and siblings.

Her mother had claimed they were in danger from a close relative in their country, yet subsequent enquiries found that no complaint had been made to the police service in that country, either at the relevant time, or since.

So the questions have to be asked, was this yet another fictitious story concocted to enable her family to enjoy a better life in the UK, and why they had chosen to ignore every other safe country they had to pass through in order to get to the UK?

Like anyone predisposed to kindness and generosity to those less fortunate, one has to remain guarded against those who see that as a weakness, and are more than happy to exploit it.

Will Richards

Malvern