British police have used facial recognition technology to arrest a suspect for the first time.

The South Wales Police identified the suspect using intelligent cameras that can match it footage against images stored in a database.

The man was arrested at the end of last month using the new tools it has emerged. The police confirmed the arrest but were unable to provide further details.

"It was a local man unconnected to the Champions League," a spokesman for the South Wales Police said.

It comes days after South Wales Police started trialling the technology at the Champions League final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The police had a database of 500,000 custody images that it was matching against images captured at the game.

If the months-long trial is successful the Welsh force hopes to extend its use of facial recognition to stop crimes before they happen.