SURREY Police and Crime Commissioner Kevin Hurley has come under fire after claiming he wants to “batter” and “break the legs” of a soon-to-be-released criminal.

In a passionate tirade posted on his personal Facebook page, Mr Hurley also blasted the “incompetent know nothing party politicians” running against him in the PCC election this May as well as lenient Government sentencing rules and a lack of prisons.

The outspoken police chief said he was driven almost to the point of quitting after visiting the family of a stabbing victim concerned about the imminent release of the man convicted for the assault.

Mr 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.”

The self-declared ‘zero tolerance’ commissioner did not identify the victims nor the perpetrator by name. However, the attacker was named in the Daily Mail as Raymond Phillips, 68, from Tandridge.

According to the Mail, Phillips who confronted his neighbour with a knife in a row over noise and was jailed for 18 months last December at Guildford Crown Court, but will serve only half his sentence and may be released even earlier if he spent time on a curfew before he was found guilty.

Mr Hurley added the case brought him close to the brink of stepping down as a candidate this May, before being “re-energised” by the passion shown by two women working on behalf of domestic violence victims.

“I am going to win this election,” he continued. “Not because I really want the job, but because I cannot allow incompetent know-nothing party politicians to do it. It’s too important for the victims and the safety of those I care about.

“I am Marmite, blunt and pushy. I am not a political idiot toying with ideas and concepts they know nothing about. I’ve smelt the blood of victims and had it on my clothes. I will continue the fight.”

Mr Hurley’s post has attracted criticism from his Conservative election rival David Munro, who condemned the comments as “outrageous” and accusing the incumbent commissioner of trying to take the law into his own hands.

Speaking ahead of this May’s police commissioner election 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.”

Responding to criticism, Mr Hurley defended his comments but added he would never act on his feelings as this would be “plainly illegal”.

He said: “This was just so dreadful that I stated how I felt about the injustice. But of course breaking someone’s legs is against the law so I would never do that.

“Of course I would not encourage anyone else to do that either. But it was how I felt, because I am so angry about it.”

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.

He also complained UK firearms police are “pathetically ill-equipped” to combat a Paris-style terrorist attack and was recently criticised by his Lib Dem election rival Paul Kennedy after Home Office figures suggested violent crime in Surrey has increased 80 per cent over the past two years.