Labour supporters have written to police commissioner Ann Barnes challenging her to take action after a string of attacks on women in Whitstable.

Rita O'Brien and Rosie Duffield, from the Canterbury Labour Party, penned the letter to Mrs Barnes in the wake of a spate of assaults in the town.

It comes after a 46-year-old man was arrested in an investigation into seven reports of attacks on women over the course of eight months and a young female was hit in the face during an alleged robbery in an alleyway off Joy Lane last Tuesday.

Detectives promised to step up patrols in the wake of the incidents warning women to keep to well lit areas and avoid travelling alone at night.

The letter, published on parliamentary candidate Hugh Lanning's Facebook page, reads: "As a woman you must feel as disappointed as many women in Whitstable that police advice is to modify their behaviour rather than any apparent action regarding prevention.

"One man has been arrested and bailed so is back in the community without being charged, but there has, only last week, been a further attack on a woman.

"There's been no obvious police presence on these footpaths and while it is clearly sensible to use 'well lit and main routes' some of these attacks have taken place in daylight.

"In the second decade of the 21st century, surely we can do more than tell women to stay indoors, give up walking the dog, running or cycling and avoid the footpaths and byways that are so delightful and should be safe."

A spokesman for Mrs Barnes says she received the letter today.