Violent crime in Kent has increased by more than 25% in a year.

The statistic comes from new figures produced by the Office for National Statistics.

It also reports that number of offences recorded by police of 'violence against a person' has gone up from 61,000 in 2017 to 77,500 cases last year in 2018.

The data stands up growing crime concerns in the county.

It comes after Kent was revealed last month to have the nation's fastest growing county rate of knife crime in the country.

Additional data showed that reported cases of stalking and harassment have increased by almost 80%.

The figure comes more than a year after the murder trial of Molly McLaren, who was stalked and killed in broad daylight by her ex-boyfriend Joshua Stimpson, who was ultimately found guilty.

Following the case, Kent Police's chief constable Alan Pughsley said last year that there was greater awareness of stalking as a separate offence and greater understanding among the force about it.

Possession of weapons offences was also up on last year by 46%, while public order offences saw an increase of almost 70%.

There was also a 19% increase on 2017 of recorded sexual offences to 7,182.