by political editor Paul Francis

The Conservative candidate vying to become Kent's first elected police commissioner has apologised after his campaign team sent unsolicited emails seeking support.

Craig Mackinlay said there had been an honest mistake when a mail shot directed at party supporters ended up being received by about 50 people who had not signed up to get them.

The party has now sent personal apologies to all those who should not have been on its mailing list after some complained about data protection breaches.

Mr Mackinlay said it had been a genuine error.

"These things do happen, but the numbers who complained were very small. We have written to every person who should not have been contacted and said we are sorry. We do take these complaints very seriously."

It is unclear how the personal details were added to the party's database.

Under Data Protection legislation, emails soliciting support for a political campaign should only be sent to those who have signed up to receive them.

Mr Mackinlay's agent Andrew Kennedy said: "We would never knowingly use someone's personal data against their wishes or without their consent, in fact it would be counter-productive for us to do so."

Campaign staff were being issued with guidance on the matter and being provided with training to avoid a repeat, he added.

Among those to receive the email, which invited people to contribute to the campaign fighting fund, was librarian Ian Clark from east Kent.

In a blog, he wrote: "Such a breach of data protection does not fill one with confidence. Data protection is a very serious issue and the last thing we need is a police commissioner dealing with such an issue so carelessly."