THE activities of a group of youths in the Cliffe Castle area of Keighley, reported on our front page today, go far beyond the idea of the prank that they doubtless perceive them to be.

Matwey Kozlow was driving home from visiting family in Bradford when his car was hit by a lump of concrete, thrown from the top of a bus shelter, which smashed his windscreen.

At the same time, Mr Kozlow saw full bricks and lumps of metal being thrown at cars and witnessed one of them smashing through the window of another car, driven by a woman, and narrowly missing a baby in the passenger seat.

Incidents such as this have previously been seen on motorways and other busy roads with heavy objects being dropped from bridges on to vehicles passing beneath. Some of them have led to appalling tragedy and loss of life.

The lengths to which some disgusting yobs will go for entertainment seem to grow worse and worse, from throwing fireworks at cars to hurling stones at firefighters while they are actively tackling a blaze. And this latest, potentially-lethal attack takes their depraved behaviour to a new level.

The consequences could have been far worse than the costly damage they caused on this occasion; any of the affected cars could have been forced off the road, into walls or even into passing pedestrians, causing death or leaving their victims maimed for life.

The police have promised to step up patrols in the area but they need to go further: they must catch the perpetrators and they must be charged with what this crime really is - attempted murder.