This newspaper does not believe criminals should be allowed to keep their ill-gotten gains.

So when they are brought to justice, we welcome moves to seize their assets.

This has a number of positive effects. Firstly it is a shot across the bows of other offenders, warning them of what they can expect if they do not mend their ways.

It is also welcomed by the public at large who are sick of seeing criminals flaunt their wealth around their neighbourhoods with seeming impunity – something which sends out all the wrong signals to impressionable youngsters.

And the money generated – not inconsiderable sums – can also be poured back into helping the police tackle other crimes.

It is, then, particularly galling to discover that legal action which could potentially have resulted in millions of pounds of assets being recovered from a convicted drug dealer has failed.

Judge Roger Scott has put the blame for this fairly and squarely at the door of Revenue and Customs, which he criticised for its “incompetence and negligence”.

This body does some tremendous work for which we should all be grateful, but events at Bradford Crown Court yesterday have dented that hard-won reputation.

We must assume that there are no valid reasons for the delays cited in court of which we and the Judge are unaware.

And that being the case, the onus must be on Revenue and Customs to make sure lessons are learnt so this sort of expensive mistake is not repeated.