Monks reject crime link to wine

Monks at a Devon abbey have defended a fortified wine they produce after it was linked to crime by police in Scotland.

Buckfast Tonic Wine was mentioned in 5,638 crime reports from 2006 to 2009, Strathclyde Police said.



One in 10 of those offences were violent and the bottle was used as a weapon 114 times in that period.

The monks said it was "hard to see" how the wine could be "held responsible for all the social ills" of Strathclyde.



They said: "What is clear is that there are serious, social problems in some parts of Scotland and that in some of these parts there are people who abuse alcoholic drinks, including Buckfast Tonic Wine.

"Deplorable as these are, it is hard to see how one product with only a small percentage of the market can be held responsible for all the social ills of such an area. This seems a rather rapid leap of logic. Has anyone considered that the misuse of this wine by some could be seen as a symptom rather than a cause of such problems?"