CRIME Commissioner Ron Hogg says remaining in Europe will keep communities safer – citing the deportation of criminals from the North-East under the European Arrest Warrant.

Between 2010 and 2015, the region’s three police forces extradited 95 foreign criminals to face justice as part of the EU-wide warrant system.

Northumbria Police deported 48 criminals, Durham Police 25 and Cleveland Police 22. Over the same period, 6,514 criminals were deported by the UK police forces across the country as a whole.

The European Arrest Warrant was also used by North-East police to bring back seven British criminals to face proceedings in the region’s courts.

They included Rory Burn was arrested in Spain in 2012.

He had fled the UK days before he was due to face trial at Durham Crown Court for assaulting two men outside a pub in Chester-le-Street. One of his victims lost the ability to hear in one ear and was left with a fractured skull. Burn was sentenced to four years in jail.

Ron Hogg, Police and Crime Commissioner for Durham Police, said: “Our security is enhanced through our membership of the EU.

“I have witnessed first-hand effective intelligence exchange and the benefits it has brought to countering football hooliganism.

“Following Euro 2000, the Belgium government used their EU presidency to address the issue of enhancing football intelligence capacity across member states.

“In addition to this, I firmly believe that the European Arrest Warrant is a vital tool in tackling serious international criminality and terrorism.”

Meanwhile, on a trip to Newcastle today (Thursday, May 26) the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Harriett Baldwin, will caution that leaving the EU could severely damage the competitiveness of the UK’s financial services industry and damage North-East’s position as a financial hub.

She says: “The financial services industry in the North East makes an important contribution to the Northern Powerhouse.

“Voters in Newcastle and across the country faces a fundamental choice – whether to remain a member of a reformed EU, or to take a leap into the dark.

“A vote to stay in Europe will protect jobs in the North-East, promote economic growth and ensure that the regional financial services sector continues to grow.”

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage will in Newcastle today (Thursday, May 26) on his Battle Bus EU Referendum tour of the country.