West Yorkshire Police have today released a "most wanted" list of people who fail to turn up at court.

Despite extensive inquiries, police have been unable to trace 20 people in West Yorkshire - nine of them from Bradford - who have skipped bail and dodged their court appearances.

Their offences range from drug supply to serious assault, and in some cases offenders have been on the run for five years.

Although it is bad enough that people with outstanding cases against them are cheating justice, it is also hitting the rest of us in the pocket.

When people accused of crimes go missing, either before their case gets to court, between hearings or while they are waiting to be sentenced, there then must follow a time-consuming process of issuing warrants for their arrest, re-arranging missed court dates, and deploying police officers to track them down.

Not only is this taking the police away from more important tasks, it is costing a huge amount of money - which must be taken from the public purse.

Every time someone dodges their court appearance, the cost will end up on our council tax bills or our income tax.

No matter how inconsequential these people feel their crimes to be, they should be apprehended immediately and made to face the music.

And in the case of those who are accused of more serious offences, such as assault and drugs crimes, they need to be brought to book as soon as possible for the safety of the general public.

If anyone recognises the faces of those court dodgers, they should have no qualms about turning them in or offering their help to the police.