You can judge a society in many ways – the strength of its economy, the grandeur of its architecture, the freedom of its people, the prowess of its sportsmen and women.

But perhaps the most important test of a society is the way individuals behave towards one another. And specifically, how that society treats its elderly men and women.

If our society was judged on the respect shown to people in their later years, we would score very badly.

Rather than regard them as wise, having accumulated a lifetime's worth of experience, we often regard them as irrelevant, embarrassing, and out of touch.

Worse than that, some people see them as soft targets for crime.

That is the case with the tenants at Lincoln Gardens in Barton Hill. Here are a group of people, some of them ill, some of them frail, who are part of a community where help is on call around the clock.

By their nature they will have come from a generation where people trusted each other.

But they are also vulnerable, and someone has been taking advantage and stealing from them, taking money that these people can ill-afford to lose.

It is a totally despicable crime and one which has much more impact on its victims than simply the loss of the money.

When the thief is caught he should be made to meet his victims, to apologise, to listen to their life stories and learn to respect them.