A woman in London has become the first person in the UK to be arrested using a new live facial recognition system rolled out by police.

The 35-year-old was arrested for failing to appear in court in connection with a serious assault on an emergency worker.

A Met spokesperson said: "Officers arrested a 35-year-old woman at approx 5.30pm for failing to appear at court in connection with a serious assault on an emergency service worker.

"The arrest was made by officers who reviewed an alert from Live Facial Recognition technology identifying her as wanted by police."

It comes after it was announced this month that, in a major new move to fight violent crime, "watch lists" will be developed to carry out live facial checks in locations chosen for the likelihood of catching suspects.

Targets will include those suspected of serious violence, gun and knife crime and child sexual exploitation.

Anyone identified by the scans will be approached by officers, asked to identify themselves and arrested if confirmed to be a wanted person.

Scotland Yard, which is battling to reduce record levels of knife offending as well as other serious crime threats, insisted that using new technology was essential.

Announcing the move, Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave, said it was an “important development” which would be “vital in assisting us in bearing down on violence”.

He said: “Facial recognition technology will be particularly useful in helping us tackle knife and gun crime, child sexual exploitation, as well as other serious crimes, and to protect the most vulnerable people.

“The public rightly expect us to test and to use emerging technology to tackle crime and stop violent criminals. Bearing down on serious violence is our number one priority and we believe we should explore the value of new technology to help us do that.

“Locating people who are wanted by the police is not new. Every day police officers are briefed with images of suspects to look out for, resulting in positive identifications and arrests every day.

"Live facial recognition is about modernising this practice through technology to improve effectiveness and bring more offenders to justice.”