Police have named and shamed ten criminals in a bid to drive them out of the city centre.

With sales starting today officers hope that releasing a rogues gallery of the worst offenders - published on the front page of today's Telegraph & Argus - will make it safer for festive shoppers.

The Top Ten prolific offenders have records for shoplifting, vehicle crime, burglary and theft and are known to target retail outlets throughout the city centre.

Steve Baker, City Centre Inspector for Bradford South Police, said: "This will lessen the opportunity for them to commit crime. We might not prevent it altogether but the more these people are known through the public seeing their photos the less chance there is of them coming into the city centre to offend.

"We are aware of these people and we are going to make them aware we are here. Our message is that we are doing everything we possibly can to make sure it is a safe and happy festive period for people visiting Bradford."

The rogues gallery is made up of brothers Vajid Matloob, 33, and Majid Matloob, 31, Darren Hutchinson, 27, Andrew Line, 33, Kevin Widdowfield, 30, Richard Lee Arnold, 30, Siobhan Mulcahy, 40, Craig McConnell, 24, Susanne McWilliams, 37, and David Twite, 39.

Anti-crime measures by police and other partner agencies have seen offences of shoplifting reduced by about 25 per cent in the past year.

Now the spotlight is being turned on the small hard core of prolific offenders.

Insp Baker said: "These are all multiple opportunist criminals who are committing a combination of offences, not just shoplifting and business crime but also vehicle crime, burglary and theft from the person.

"Some have got anti-social behaviour orders and a number of them are barred from city centre premises. These are active criminals who are causing the most problems in the city centre.

"They like anonymity, when it has gone it makes it very difficult for them to continue. The more people know who they are, the more success we have in stopping them committing offences."

He said the City Centre Beat partnership, which includes police, store detectives, CCTV operators and Council wardens, had 140 radios for keeping in contact about offenders and troublemakers.

Insp Baker said the reduction in shoplifting was down to knowing who the main shoplifters were.

"You are never going to stop the one-off offenders, but if you get rid of some of those people committing hundreds of offences you are going to see a reduction in crime."

Val Summerscales, Bradford Chamber of Trade secretary, said: "We fully support this initiative, and any initiative, that reduces theft and crime generally in the city centre or anywhere else."

The clamp down follows a three-day multi-agency Christmas blitz, Operation Snap, to target crime in the city centre.

The operation included the issuing of crime prevention leaflets to residents in the university and Horton Grange area and the targeting and arresting of offenders.

In the first day, 18 people were arrested on warrants, most of whom were known criminals.

Within three hours, 200 personal attack alarms were handed out to shoppers, along with a number of security purse chains to protect the elderly from thieves.

Crime prevention measures have seen the number of purse thefts in the city centre plunge by 60 per cent in the last two years.

Operation Snap also involved the use of British Transport Police sniffer dogs to check for drugs at the railway stations and the use of metal detectors to prevent the use of offensive weapons; a crackdown on road traffic offences such as speeding and the use of mobile phones while driving; checking the safety of HGVs; and tackling illegal use of red diesel with the Environment Agency.

Insp Baker said: "We want to emphasise that we use all these measures throughout the year. But we have brought a lot of resources together, with funding from the Council, to enhance it over the festive period. We have picked the right time to do it and the right hot spot areas."

  • Click here to see Our View

  • Start or join a debate on this issue in our online forum - Click here