IT IS the ultimate satisfaction, of course, to see criminals brought to justice and sentenced for their crimes.

But there is also the question of their ill-gotten gains and what is to be, or should be, done about them.

The best solution is that stolen goods and cash can be reunited with the victims of the crimes but it is not always possible to do.

So the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Safer Communities Fund, which uses powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act to strip the illegal profits of crime from convicted criminals, is hugely important.

The Fund successfully redistributes this cash to worthy causes and across West Yorkshire almost £155,000 has been handed out, almost a third of that to organisations in Bradford.

There is something highly appropriate about this – not only are the criminals themselves repaying their debt to society, invariably in custody, but the proceeds of their careers in crime are going back to help the communities they have damaged, often directly through their illegal actions.

Many of the organisations and charities which bid for this money are especially suitable for the grants because they work in helping communities hit by anti-social behaviour and in steering young people away from crime.

These groups work hard to improve the lot of their communities and they all deserve their grants and will put the money to good use – going some way, perhaps, to repairing the damage caused by the criminal elements from whom the money has been seized.