The actions of Mario Stojka, who attacked a pensioner while she was shopping in Bradford city centre, are nothing short of utterly deplorable.

Stojka's victim, in her 70s, has been left terrified to even step outside her own front door by his base and cowardly attack, carried out purely to line his own pockets.

What many people will be wondering is why Stojka, a Slovakian, was allowed into this country at all, having racked up a string of convictions in his home country.

With multiple convictions for theft, one for fraud and one for dangerous and threatening behaviour, Stojka was by anyone's estimation already a criminal before he even set foot in the UK.

While everyone deserves a second chance, can it really be any great surprise that he continued his life of criminal behaviour once on these shores?

Open borders are all well and good when they allow honest, hard-working people to settle in new countries with the intention of building a law-abiding life and contributing to the local economy and community.

But if the same open-door policies allow criminals merely to transplant themselves to other countries where they can seek fresh pickings from their recidivist behaviour, then the system has obvious and apparent flaws.

It has to be said that the likes of Stojka are in the minority among those who set up home here from other European countries, and he is now finding out to his cost that the UK is no soft touch for travelling crooks.

But one Bradford pensioner has been unnecessarily traumatised by his actions and that is something that could have been avoided if more stringent checks were in place to keep the likes of Mario Stojka out.