A third of those arrested for crimes in Epsom and Ewell last year were from London it has been revealed.

Police statistics show that of the 560 people arrested in the borough in 2013-14 half of them, 281, came from outside the borough.

Data released in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request showed that 161 of them came from London.

The previous year 231 of the 411 people arrested were from outside the borough, with 131 from London.

Epsom and Ewell Neighbourhood Inspector Craig Knight described the number of arrests of Londoners as "not that surprising" as Epsom was historically part of the Met police area.

Insp Knight said: "We are arresting more people than ever before. Whilst many of these are local people a large number of our offenders are from elsewhere and over a third are from the London boroughs.

"This shouldn’t really surprise us given our very close proximity to urban parts of London such as Sutton, Croydon and Kingston, but does begin to highlight the need for us to work closely with our Metropolitan Police colleagues."

He said Epsom’s transport networks run from north to south, there are great links to the city and the Met police border runs through some parts of the borough.

Last year 36 arrestees came from Reigate and Banstead, 22 came from Mole Valley, 11 were from Elmbridge, four from Guildford and four from Spelthorne.

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Police and Crime Commissioner Kevin Hurley said: "Criminals do not follow local authority borders, only politicians and council/police employees are constrained by them."