CONSERVATIVE Surrey police and crime commissioner candidate David Munro has condemned the current incumbent for his “vile” comments expressing a desire to “batter” and “break the legs” of a criminal.

In a passionate post on his Facebook page on Thursday, Surrey’s independent crime commissioner Kevin Hurley wrote: “This morning I went and saw a couple of Surrey residents who were upset with the judges, Crown Prosecution Service, police.

“The husband had been stabbed in the lung by a violent neighbour and the wife and mother was terrified that the criminal comes out of prison soon. He only got a short sentence. She was scared for her children who’d seen their dad near bleeding to death.

“After years of this I was angry, this criminal has destroyed the confidence of a family. I wanted to go and see the stabber and batter him. I wanted to break his legs.

“I was sick of years of listening to misery and seeing criminals avoid the severe sentences they deserve. It’s not the fault of the judges by the way, they are constrained by Government sentencing rules. There are not enough prisons.”

Responding, Tory election rival Mr Munro accused the commissioner of wanting to bypass the criminal justice system and take the law into his own hands.

Mr Munro, a former major in the British Army and current county councillor for Farnham South, said: “These comments are vile. It is right criminals should be punished but that is why we have a criminal justice system, rather than individuals taking the law their own hands.

“For a police and crime commissioner to condone violent vigilantism is horrific and an utter disgrace to the legal system he represents.

“Surrey deserves a police and crime commissioner who will treat the job of tackling crime seriously rather than making offensive comments.”

It is not the first time Mr Hurley has courted controversy, having recently made national headlines after claiming he wanted to sack former Surrey Police chief Lynne Owens in response to a succession of scathing reports by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

The current crime commissioner was also criticised by his Lib Dem election rival Paul Kennedy this week after Home Office figures suggested violent crime in Surrey has increased 80 per cent over the past two years.