IT comes, sadly, as no surprise to read in the Carmarthen Journal that Simon Hart MP used donations from ex-mercenaries to fund his election campaign.

Animal welfare groups campaigned against Mr Hart in the last election, because of his support for bloodsports and the snaring and shooting of wildlife.

They were forced by the police to give statements about the pettiest of their election expenses, none of which breached any rules. The police would not reveal the identity of the complainant.

Mr Hart, however, has a track record in the area of pro-bloodsports funding — £40,000 from a former Master of the Isle of Wight Hunt who has a New York hedge fund, £25,000 from Lord Ashcroft's "non-dom" millions, £2,000 from a former chairman of The Master of Foxhounds. Cash from someone who made a killing in the diamond- studded bloodbath of Angola's civil war hardly bucks the trend.

Dr Adrian Stallwood

Bron Y Garn

Wallis, Pembrokeshire