Armed police officers in Kent will wear body worn cameras from this summer.

Chief Constable Alan Pughsley announced yesterday that all front line staff will be able to record potentially fatal incidents.

This comes after Kent Police has signed a new contract for upgraded devices that can be worn on baseball caps or helmets.

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From July, armed officers will be able to upload footage through a secure cloud-based website evidence.com.

Ch Con Pughsley said: "These new cameras will be usable for firearms officers, they are a good non-intrusive device and they should not affect the capability of the officer.

"This is also important from a transparency point of view since we will be able to capture the end of someone's life.

"This is important for the family of someone that we have had to take a fatal shot on.

"It's good they can see exactly what happened."

"This is important for the family of someone that we have had to take a fatal shot on..." Chief Constable Alan Pughsley

He added this could also speed up the decision of the Independent Office of Police Conduct for those who "took this brave and courageous action".

The last high profile case where a police officer took a fatal shot was of William 'Curly Bill' Smith.

The thirty-six year old, of Golford, near Sissinghurst, was accused of bludgeoning a pensioner to death.

Months later, officers cornered the suspect and administered four blows to the head and chest in Goudhurst in May 2016.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, ruled in November 2017, that both officers were responding to the threat when Mr Smith aimed his shotgun towards them.

The coroner's inquest of Mr Smith is set to take place later this year, more than two years after his death.