People who commit cyber-crime should be forced to wear wifi jammers to prevent them using the internet, rather than being sent to prison, a senior police leader has suggested.

While traditional crime is falling, computer based offences, including fraud, the sharing and viewing of indecent images and social media abuse, are soaring and now account for 40 per cent of all crime in the UK.

But one senior officer has said sending such people to prison is not appropriate or effective and we need to find new ways to punish cyber-criminals.

Chief Superintendent Gavin Thomas, who is the president of the Police Superintendents' Association, has suggested using technology to deprive offenders of access to the internet.

He said convicted criminals could be fitted with electronic jammers around their wrists or ankles which blocked wifi signals and prevented them from going online.