The number of people who died in Kent Police's custody in the past year has been revealed.

There were a total of seven fatalities during or following contact with officers in the county between April 2015 and 2016.

Of these, two were road crashes, two were suspected suicides of people shortly after being released from custody, and three were "other" deaths following police contact.

They include the death of a father-of-two who crashed into a wall during a high-speed police chase in Rochester.

Peter O'Reilly, 45, from Chatham, was killed when he ploughed into the wall outside Watts Almshouses in Maidstone Road last July, while being pursued by officers after failing to stop.

The figures released this week by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) also include the death of a young man after police "downgraded" his emergency call.

Craig Davis, 31, died in August last year at his Ashford home after dialling 999 complaining of breathing difficulties.

Paramedics requested help from police in case they needed to break into his home, but the call was downgraded.

The ambulance service contacted Kent Police a second time, and officers arrived shortly after - but Mr Davis was already dead.

The figures indicate there were no deaths in or following police custody and no fatal shootings in the last financial year.

But since then, murder suspect William Smith was shot dead by firearms officers in Goudhurst in a planned operation.

At the time, Smith, 36, was wanted in connection with the death of pensioner Roy Blackman, who was bludgeoned to death at his Biddenden home in March.

The IPCC, which is informed of all deaths following police contact, concluded that the force was not to blame for four of the seven cases.

Two of the deaths remain under investigation and one resulted in the force being given advice about working closer with other organisations.

Kent Police says the number of deaths is consistent with forces of a similar size.

Head of the force's professional standards department, Lee Catling, says: "It is important that any death or serious injury following contact with the police is investigated to see if it could have been prevented and we work closely with the IPCC when such tragedies occur.

"Officers and staff have a challenging role when dealing with detained people, in some instances people are aggressive and abusive and we ensure that staff are trained to a high level.

"We have made a significant investment in raising awareness and delivering training so our officers can give the best possible service to the vulnerable people and the victims of domestic abuse that they encounter in their roles.

"We proactively revisit historic lessons learned by IPCC investigations to ensure we are doing all we can to prevent tragedies. In addition to this, we work alongside serious case review teams to enable us to fully understand where we can improve."

The IPCC, which released figures for all forces in England and Wales, says mental health and links to drugs or alcohol are common factors among many of those who died.

Nationally, more than half of those who apparently took their own lives after being released from custody had known mental health issues, and almost half had links to substance abuse.