According to recent DNA findings, Charles Byrne, the Irish giant, may have contributed to our understanding of gigantism, and may help in future treatment of patients carrying the same "variant in the AIP gene" before they grow into giants (Land of giants, G2, 11 January).

Other than provide a link to current sufferers of an inherited form of pituitary tumour, I cannot see how this advances our understanding of gigantism. John Hunter, the surgeon who appropriated the body of Charles Byrne by nefarious means, did in actual fact carry out a postmortem on Byrne, and was disappointed to find that there was no specific cause for his gigantism except a malfunctioning pituitary gland.

Now, almost 230 years after his death, Charles Byrne is still a "freak" displayed in a glass case at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons for gapers and others to be photographed alongside, much as they did in 1782.

Theft of bodies and body parts is illegal. It is also abhorrent given that their subsequent use does not have the express permission of the deceased or the family of the deceased.

The remains of Sarah Baartman, the so-called Hottentot Venus, were returned to South Africa from France in 2002; in May 2007 the Natural History Museum in London returned the remains of 18 Tasmanian Aborigines to their country of origin. It is now time for Charles Byrne's last wish to be honoured. Will the RCS, an organisation with no doubt substantial financial resources at its disposal, allow Charles Byrne to have a decent burial?

Máirín Power

London