The seizure of criminals’ assets is now common practice – and a good thing too.

In the past, wrong-doers were often able to enjoy their ill-gotten gains even though everyone knew where they had come from, something that sent out all the wrong signals.

Today, the emphasis is, rightly, on showing that crime does not pay, with the authorities having more powers to do just that.

All this, of course, will be well known to readers of this newspaper, but what happens when criminals do not co-operate with the process is perhaps less well known.

Today we learn that five unsavoury characters, including two from Bradford, have received additional sentences for not complying with seizure orders.

These include a drug dealer who had an extra three years added to his sentence, and a brothel-keeper who was initially only given a suspended sentence but who has now been handed a jail term.

There is no doubt that this tough approach is the right one to take, and that it is likely to be as popular with the public as it is unpopular with the criminals.

But perhaps the most pleasing aspect of these cases is that even after serving additional sentences, the criminals’ debt will not have been ‘written off’ and the police can still try to recover what is owed.