A Cornwall councillor from Looe has written a poem with a message of solidarity in the cause for freedom of life and speech.

Armand Toms, who is also the town's deputy mayor, wrote the poem in the wake of the three days of bloodshed in Paris and surrounding areas after attacks were carried out by Jihadist gunmen which resulted in the murders of 17 people.

The terror began on Wednesday of last week at the offices of the satircal French magazine Charlie Hebdo, where 12 people were murdered. The following day a policewoman was shot dead and on Friday four hostages were killed in a supermarket seige.

Three of the terrorists responsible for the atrocities were hunted down by French police and shot. A woman accomplice is believed to have escaped to Syria.

Cllr Toms said: 'I have a son in the Army and this is very much like when I served in Northern Ireland. It's about the enemy within. I wrote these words as I feel so sad for the French people.'

Something

Turn the clock back one hundred years

We joined the French to fight our fears

The fight for our freedom of life and

speech

What did we learn and what did it teach?

To stand together when the going gets

tough

And say enough is enough

To attack one is to attack all

Come together and stand tall

We can't win the

battle alone

Yet united we can cast the first stone

Unity leads to

integrity

And to overcome a bigger possibility.