Police and council chiefs have hit out at a BBC series which painted Essex as the gangland capital of Britain.

Over three days morning television viewers watched a parade of self-confessed murderers, former bouncers, police officers, nightclub owners and the Rettendon murder supergrass, Darren Nicholls.

Reporter Fergal Parkinson suggested the "majority of the country's principal criminal gangs operate in or around Essex" and carry out their activities "relatively unchecked".

However, Essex Police, who initially co-operated with the BBC breakfast news series, said programme makers had distorted the facts to fit an inaccurate picture.

A police spokesman said: "We could not identify any hard evidence in this programme to support its claims about the level of criminality in Essex.

"Independent statistics show that only five of the 39 English police forces have a lower crime rate than Essex, but the programme-makers chose to edit their interview with an Essex Police superintendent to almost nothing."

A Basildon Council spokesman said: "This was a factually shallow, cliched and sensationalist slur on the county of Essex which fell well below the standards you would expect from the BBC."

Mr Parkinson said: "I absolutely stand by the figures used in the programme.

He added: "We went to great lengths to ensure the piece was an accurate reflection of the type of activities that are going on in Essex."

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