The 15-year prison sentences imposed in Bradford yesterday on two drugs barons who kidnapped and almost killed a dealer surely must send out a strong message to others involved in this evil trade.

This was a crime of sickening brutality, made no less so because it was carried out by leading members of the local underworld on "one of their own". Apart from the terrible injuries inflicted on Jonathan Adamson by Naveed Butt and Anthony Murgatroyd, there is the fact that this attack was made in broad daylight, in the centre of Bradford, while Christmas shoppers looked on in horror.

It is wholly unacceptable that this sort of thing should be allowed to happen in this city, with gangsters carrying knives and guns dispensing their own sort of justice in full view of the public. Fortunately Butt and Murgatroyd were captured and Jonathan Adamson somehow found the courage to give evidence against them - helping to redeem himself for the damage his own drug-dealing activities must have done.

The streets of Bradford are now that bit safer with these two ruthless thugs out of the way. The police are to be congratulated for bringing such a successful case against the two men, as is Judge McCallum for acknowledging the seriousness of their crimes through the sentencing.

As the judge said, the message needs to be sent out to drugs dealers that their crime will not pay in West Yorkshire. His stated determination to see a severe sentencing policy applied throughout the district is commendable. He has made a good start with sentences which should serve both as a benchmark and as a deterrent.