There is a bug in the JDK method Introspector.decapitalise() which causes the getSetter and getGetter methods in BasicPropertyAccessor to fail in certain esoteric situations. Consider:

propertyName = ABcd
Introspector.decapitalise() returns "ABcd" but should return "aBcd"

This is because decapitalise() tries to return property names like URL as "URL" and not "uRL". However, to make this decision, it incorrectly just checks the first 2 characters of the property name to see if the are capitalised and in so doing misses the case described above.

There are only 3 places in Hibernate that call this JDK method - all are in BasicPropertyAccessor. I have fixed the decapitalise() method to remove the bug and have added this revised method to the BasicPropertyAccessor class.

Would the Hibernate project consider accepting this patch so that getSetter() and getGetter() work properly for all cases?

Probably this applies: http://www.hibernate.org/116.html#A30

Thanks for your reply.
I saw this other message this after I had made my post and so realise that I asked a stupid question :-(
I just changed the property names as suggested and everything works.

Actually that is not a bug - it is simply how the spec want's it...more then one capital generates it all in capitals.