Its spokesman, Sam Beattie, said yesterday: "The worst-case scenario would be that the RUC would end up as some sort of a political football. We're entitled to better than that."Inevitably, however, the contentious subject of policing has become intertwined with the question of an overall political settlement in Northern Ireland. The policing debate now developing has already heard opinions ranging from those fiercely protectiveof the RUC to voices calling for its complete disbandment.A permanent peace will clearly mean a new approach to policing, which for 25 years has been directed in large measure to coping with the republican and loyalist campaigns of violence. It will also mean a significant reduction in the size of the RUC, which has more than 12,000 officers.There is no agreement on how the RUC should be structured - or indeed whether it should continue to exist. The Sinn Fein position, for example, is that the force is unacceptable and should be disbanded, although Sinn Fein spokesmen have spoken of interimarrangements in advance of a political settlement.

More moderate nationalist opinion has suggested different structures, a different name and different uniforms.Historically, the RUC has always had an acceptability problem with the nationalist community, much of which has tended to regard it as a force under either Unionist or British Government influence. In religious terms, its make-up is more than 90 per centProtestant. The force has been praised in many quarters for its increased professionalism over the years, but many controversies during the Troubles have left a residue of bitterness, especially among working-class nationalists.Allegations of harassment, indifference to complaints and lack of accountability are commonplace and indicative of a widespread lack of trust. Within the force itself there are signs of financial anxiety.

The cessation of violence has reduced the daily threat to officers' lives, but it has also hit their pay-packets as overtime has been dramatically reduced.There is also insecurity over livelihoods if peace proves permanent, since it is assumed that many jobs will eventually disappear. The overall debate is set to continue between those who favour keeping changes as limited as possible and those who seek full-scale reforms.. Ronnie Knight, one of the most famous fugitives from British justice, was yesterday jailed for seven years at the Old Bailey after admitting that he had received more than £300,000 from the £6m Security Express robbery. However, Knight, 60, who was on the run in Spain for 10 years, denied that he had taken part in the theft in 1983, which was then the largest cash robbery in British history. Sentencing him, Judge Gerald Gordon said: "Clearly, I do not know what precise role you played. But professional robbers such as those involved are not going to hand over the sort of sums you got unless the person to whom they give it is very deeply involved himself." Knight, the former husband of the actress Barbara Windsor, stood with his hands clasped in front of him as he listened to the judge and showed no flicker of emotion as sentence was passed.He was the sixth person to be jailed in connection with the robbery at Shoreditch, east London, on Easter Monday 12 years ago, in which a security guard was drenched with petrol and threatened that he would be set alight unless he handed over the keys tothe vault.After the hearing, Det Supt Iain Malone of Scotland Yard's Flying Squad said the sentence reflected those handed down to other members of the gang. He said his team would continue to pursue the four still at large, against whom arrest warrants had been issued.He admitted some surprise that Knight had flown back from the Costa del Sol last year, but said the police had not done any deal with Knight over the charges and that he had always known he faced a long prison term.Knight denied taking part in the robbery, and Michael Worsley QC, for the prosecution, agreed that the charge should lie on the file. But he pleaded guilty to handling £314,813 in used banknotes.Much of the money was deposited with Miss Windsor's accountants, Fox Associates, in large sums of cash in the weeks immediately after the robbery, as a "cover plan" to avoid using a bank where questions might have been asked, Mr Worsley said.He said Miss Windsor knew nothing of the source of the money, even though some had been used to repay debts to her, and pointed out that she had been away working in the theatre when the bulk of the cash was deposited.Knight's mistress, Sue Haylock, 42, later to become his third wife, also deposited sums of cash in her bank account.

In parallel with his own career he created the NYT's design department, guiding young hopefuls towards his own credo, urging them to aim high whatever the financial restrictions, and never to settle for the conventional.Death, they say, cancels everything but the truth, and the truth of Brian Lee's life lies not only in his public achievements, but in the joy and pleasure he gave to all those who worked alongside him. It was his unerring eye for perfection married to originality, his ability to cut his often meagre stage cloth in such away that nobody noticed the seams, that demonstrated his self-taught genius. Following his death the Shakespeare Foundation awarded him through their patron, the great actress Nuria Espert, their Gold Medal, of which there have been only two previous recipients.Lee's achievements were all the more remarkable in that, in the main, he worked outside the commercial theatre on shoestring budgets. In particular, Lee's designs for the Lorca classic brought out the superlatives from the Spanish critics and led to his being asked to do other work at the Palau de la Musica in Valencia, where he designed a spectacular Carmina Burana and Flying Dutchman, both in 1992. So began a long association between the NYT and the Spanish Shakespeare Foundation that added distinction to both companies.

The partnership operated on a reciprocal basis; Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and, notably, Lorca's Blood Wedding, in 1988, were performed in London, Madrid and Valencia. In recent years they anticipated the present success of Oliver! by ambitiously reviving two of Lionel Bart's neglected musicals, Blitz (1990) and Maggie May (1992).Nightshriek was seen by Professor Manuel Conejero of the Teatre Jove de Espana, who invited Lee and Wilson to go to Spain and mount a new translation of Romeo and Juliet. Together they conceived and mounted some outstanding productions for the NYT, notably Trisha Ward's Nightshriek (1986), a highly original musical version of Macbeth that defied theatrical folklore for that disaster-prone play and proved a milestone in Lee's career. It was a propitious matching of two people who had the same ideals and their personal and professional association lasted until Lee's death. Brian Lee, theatre designer: born Newcastle upon Tyne 13 September 1948; died London 29 December 1994 Brian Lee was a supremely gifted stage designer. He first entered the profession as a singer and dancer, eventually reaching the West End in the original production of Jesus Christ Superstar. But his sights were fixed elsewhere and he set about masteringthe technical intricacies of theatre design. He formed a partnership with Edward Wilson, the equally gifted artistic director of the National Youth Theatre.