Certainly not to have his house vandalised and his wife and children forced out of their home.

Goodwin certainly does deserve to endure public scrutiny over his role in bringing the once mighty Royal Bank of Scotland to its knees.

His grilling in front of MPs was part of that, though he was right to point out forcibly to them that he was only part of the team that has left RBS in the state it is in.

Goodwin must also expect further searching inquiries into his stewardship of the now nationalised bank including, possibly, being cited in legal actions in the UK or, more likely, in America.

But what the former RBS chief executive does not deserve is to become the victim of the modern version of the lynch mob, driven by e-mail and internet rather than, as in the past, word of mouth on the street.

And in times like this we must turn to our

Some hope.

Take for example the reaction of Mike Pringle, the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Grange area where Sir Fred lives.

Pringle said this week that many people would believe Goodwin was to blame for the recent attack on his home because he had not been prepared to compromise over his £700,000 a year pension.

He added: "He has perhaps brought it on himself. There is a perception it is his own fault."

What?

Pringle's only qualification of this attitude was this: "People have lost an absolute fortune on their savings and they quite rightly feel very aggrieved. It is, however, wrong that his home should be targeted for attack. He and his family have the right to live without the fear of violence."

These remarks have, quite rightly, been criticised by letter writers on The Scotsman today.

Whilst it might be going too far to suggest, as one letter writer does, that this has echoes of Krystallnacht in Nazi Germany, the kind of moral ambiguity displayed by Pringle, could be seen as giving tacit approval to the attacks on Goodwin's home.

Pringle's ambivalence is reprehensible. He is trying to say that, of course, he does not condone such action, but he understands it. Not good enough.

So if someone were to turn up at Pringle's constituency office and vandalised it because they did not like what he does as an MSP, would accept that he had brought that on himself? I doubt it.

Sir Fred Goodwin deserves to be held to account over his role in the downfall of RBS.

He does not deserve to become the victim of some latter day lynch mob, which believes it has the tacit encouragement of a member of the Scottish Parliament

And Goodwin's family should be left out of this entirely.