Criminal Carl Knell has already received £30,000 for an injury he received on his back.

Now he is in line to get another £80,000 for further injuries inflicted while being transferred from one prison to another.

Prisoners are entitled to their rights just like the rest of us because they are paying the penalty for their offences.

But by comparison, nursery nurse Lisa Potts, widely praised for her heroism, received just £49,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

Even today, years after the event, she is mentally and physically scarred by what happened when she bravely fought off a knifeman who came into her classroom.

There is an obvious injustice when this brave young woman should be awarded less than half the sum Knell may receive. Whatever injuries he suffered, and they may have been considerable, his life was never wrecked in the same way as that of Lisa Potts.

The Government has plenty on its plate at the moment with the foot-and-mouth crisis and thoughts of a General Election.

But one pledge each party should make in its manifesto is to sort out compensation so that it does not become a lottery in which people such as Carl Knell win the jackpot and those like Lisa Potts do not.