IT may seem like a gimmick but the proof of the police plan to hand over birthday cakes to persistent criminals is, if you can stomach the pun, in the eating.

The sight of Chief Inspector Andy Boyd, an old school copper of imposing character, knocking at your door to hand over a Victoria sponge would be enough to get the message through to most offenders.

The message is clear: we are watching you. It is a bid to unnerve the most prolific offenders, so they are too busy looking over their shoulders to scout out potential victims.

That thinking has been around for a while but you have to admire the ‘can-do’ attitude of Mr Boyd.

This is not a hare-brained scheme dreamed up by some brains trust, which then hands over the idea to some underling to implement.

Mr Boyd goes down to Tesco, pays the £1.50 himself, without claiming it back from the taxpayer and then knocks at the door of the day’s target as they celebrate their birthday.

Mr Boyd and his team have done a lot of other work in the Vale toO and have seen crime fall by 18 per cent in the past five months.

The only real criticism you can level at Mr Boyd is that his poetry in the card needs a little improvment. That really would be the icing on the cake.