People possessed of anything approaching a full set of faculties will be forced to wonder what kind of moron gets their kicks from shining high-powered laser pens at low-flying aircraft approaching and departing Leeds-Bradford Airport.

This is the type of person who, presumably, also thinks throwing paving slabs from motorway bridges is an acceptable form of entertainment, or perhaps stringing piano wire at neck-height across paths used by cyclists.

There can only be two explanations. The first is that they think they are just having “a bit of fun”. Fun, however, which no-one else finds remotely funny, and which runs a very real risk of causing a tragedy.

The second is that they are deliberately and maliciously trying to blind airline pilots with the intention of causing a plane to crash and resulting in many, many deaths. And that would be, pure and simple, an act of terrorism.

These laser pen incidents are not, unfortunately, isolated one-offs. There were more than 80 cases last year of planes reporting laser pens being used against them in the Leeds-Bradford Airport airspace.

More must be done to tackle this problem, and if that means cutting off the supply of such pens to anyone who cannot provide a reasonable reason for having one, then that must be an avenue that is explored.

And anyone who is caught in such a negligent, childish and downright stupid act must be made fully aware of the potential consequences of their actions, and suffer the only reasonable punishment for their crime – a term in prison in which they can fully reflect on the idiocy that landed them there.