The judge's praise for four police officers following the trial of the West Yorkshire criminal gang who stole luxury goods and dealt in hard drugs and firearms was well deserved. They were indeed courageous and resourceful, as he said, as they worked undercover to collect the evidence needed to put the large and small players in this major crime game behind bars.

Thanks to their diligence and expertise, 13 men who had been making a major nuisance of themselves for some time have been put out of action, some for several years. That is bound to be a great relief to the householders of Bradford and district.

We had reported a growing number of incidents in which houses had been burgled and car keys stolen so that high-performance vehicles could be taken and sold on, often for knock-down prices. The knowledge that a gang was working its way around the district in this way caused a lot of anxiety.

Now, thanks to the police's sterling work in gathering enough evidence to establish a watertight case, the fear of this sort of crime will have been reduced.

However, that does not mean that householders should become complacent. The advice offered by the police while this crime wave was going on still holds good. It makes sense not only to ensure that doors are kept locked, even during the daytime so that opportunist thieves cannot sneak in. And car keys are best hidden away rather than being left on kitchen worktops or hall units where they can easily be seen.