CRIME is so much a part of life we barely bat an eyelid unless we see or read about something particularly horrific.

Ilkley, while not free from crime, is hardly seen as the Bronx of the Keighley division. Our reporters' daily chats with officers usually yield the odd stolen CD player or an occasional theft of a car.

This week, these daily chats have focused on a rather more sinister event - drive-by bag snatches.

In last week's Ilkley Gazette we reported how a pensioner visiting Ilkley was left with minor injuries after being struck by a car driven by a thief.

This crime left a deep impression on the officer who spoke to our reporter and appalled the reporter himself.

As if knocking over a pensioner was not bad enough, to lean out of the window and help yourself to their handbag beggars belief.

This incident was just being digested when two further incidents, very similar in nature, took place within the space of a couple of days.

In all three cases the elderly victims have suffered distressing ordeals and only escaped serious injury through luck rather than anything else.

What kind of individual is so pathetic that he has to steal from pensioners - easy targets - but to do so from the 'safety' of a car?

It is highly unlikely the person who has caused such misery to these women will realise the potentially fatal consequences of his crime.

It may sound over dramatic but the next time a similar story appears in this newspaper we may not be talking about a few cuts and bruises - it could be a fatality.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.