More than 6,000 police officers are assaulted every day, it has emerged, as new figures indicate the extent of the violence they face.

Estimates from the Home Office previously suggested the 124,000 police officers in England and Wales faced around 23,000 attacks each year.

But in the first major survey of its kind, the Police Federation of England and Wales discovered that the true figure is around 2.4 million, more than 100 times more.

The figure means a police officer is attacked somewhere in the country every 13 seconds.

It also suggests that the average officer is assaulted 19 times a year.

Just over two million of the incidents were unarmed assaults, including kicks, punches and slaps, but more than 300,000 involved attacks with deadly weapons, some of which left officers with life-changing injuries.

The Home Office is working with the Police Federation to verify the figures.

More than 40,000 policemen and women reported having received injuries as a result of being assaulted in the line of duty, almost double the figure the Home Office had for the total number of assaults.