It is absolutely beyond belief that an airgun-wielding idiot shot a two-year-old girl in the head in broad daylight in the middle of Bradford.

The terror that Noorsadia Akhter's mother went through as she heard the crack of the shot and then saw blood start to flow from the child's head we can only guess at.

There can simply be no excuse for what happened, and it is to be hoped that the police will soon have the culprit arrested and brought to justice.

Someone must have seen this person in the vicinity, carrying a gun, and it is to be hoped the local community give as much help to the investigation of this despicable crime as possible.

Whether the gunman was firing indiscriminately, or whether they targeted the family for more sinister reasons, they deserve to have the strongest possible punishment available.

Many people think airguns are not dangerous because they are not as powerful as other firearms and fire only small pellets. That, of course, is absolute rubbish.

Had the pellet that hit this child done so a couple of inches lower, she could have lost an eye. And as the police point out, airguns are not toys, and firing them in a public place is highly illegal.

Those responsible should feel thoroughly ashamed of their actions that caused such injury and distress to a two-year-old child, and if they had any guts they would hand themselves in and face their punishment.

But given, as it seems, this coward committed this heinous crime from the cover of a derelict building, it is quite likely they will wait until the law surely catches up with them first.