MR Sheard's apologia (Letters, February 28) concerning the Focus debacle has served only to convince me that West Devon Borough Council is now completely out of control.

A council so lacking in political (NB lower case) direction that its chief executive cannot find a senior councillor to defend it — or perhaps does not consider any competent or sufficiently credible to do so — in the public prints almost beggars belief.

The net result of the frenetic fandango of errors is that the borough council is now in precisely the same position, save for being £50k the poorer, as it was before it decided to squander our money on a doomed litigious frolic.

The fact that the outcome is exactly as I predicted last May, when the story broke, gives me no satisfaction; rather, I tremble to think what madcap scheme they may dream up to dig themselves even deeper into the mire at our expense.

Parenthetically, I strongly doubt the vires of a council's resolving to indemnify one of its own councillors against the costs of litigation against itself, so perhaps there may yet be a remedy for us, the taxpayers, at the hands of the council's auditors. Not long ago, councillors would have been vulnerable to disqualification and surcharge for an action blatantly ultra vires (if it is), but, sadly, that powerful deterrent against foolhardy adventurism is no longer in force.

Roger W Mathew

Down Road

Tavistock