THE death of Jill Dando on Monday shocked people more than any tragedy since the fatal car crash involving Diana, Princess of Wales almost two years ago.

There were some similarities. Both were vivacious women of about the same age who had been so much in the public eye that many people regarded them as almost personal friends.

Both were cruelly and unexpectedly killed when they had so much more to give.

But there the common factors end. Diana's death, whatever the conspiracy theorists may say, was a tragic accident. Jill Dando was a victim of the foulest murder - gunned down on her own doorstep.

What makes it all the more worrying is that it highlights the seemingly unstoppable escalation of crime and violence in this country. Only the previous day, a young Sussex policeman was killed by a van which failed to stop, dragging him 100 yards along the road.

Not many years ago, murders were rare events in Britain. Each one received a lot of attention because it was so unusual. Now only the most violent, or those involving well known people, make the headlines and slaughter seems to have become almost routine.

One reason for the upsurge in murder must be the abolition of the death penalty. Even though I agreed with the vote against hanging, it did remove the greatest deterrent of all. But just as potent a factor is the short sentences often imposed. Life sentences average only nine years.

Violent criminals know that many cases of murder are reduced to manslaughter. They are often advised by lawyers on legal aid to plead not guilty even in the most flagrant cases.

We hear a lot about victims of injustice but the libel laws make it impossible to comment on many more cases where people are acquitted of heinous crimes even though the evidence against them appears to be overwhelming.

The increase in prosperity, far from reducing crime as was hoped in the Fifties, has increased it hugely. Television enables people to look at well-known figures, such as Jill Dando, and in some cases envy them to the point of obsession.

Forty years ago it would have been beyond the means of most people to possess a car or van and beyond their wildest fantasies to use it in a hit-and-run attack.

The discipline built into British life throughout much of this century has been loosened by liberalism and prosperity.

Most of all there has been a huge decline in religion with nothing put in its place. People who feared eternal damnation if they committed a crime, however small, are now confident that they are clever enough to get away with murder and that nothing much will happen to them in this world or the next if they get caught.

Imustn't overdo the gloom. We are still one of the world's most orderly countries. The worst effects of crime are often concentrated on the very rich or depairingly poor rather than on the vast majority falling between those extremes.

When Princess Diana died, I hoped that a message would be sent to the motoring community about the danger of speed and driving over the limit but nothing happened. I fear that any lessening of murder and mayhem through the death of Jill Dando will only be temporary and that the death of a Crimewatch presenter will do little to reduce crime.

DAN, the Department of Appropriate Names, was amused to note that when Health Secretary Frank Dobson appeared at a Brighton conference this week, he appeared on the internal TV system as Dopezone.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.