West Yorkshire Police made more than 100 arrests under the European Arrest Warrant last year.

Last week news emerged that a former panellist on BBC quiz show Eggheads, CJ de Mooi, 46 and from Monmouthshire, had been arrested over an alleged killing in Amsterdam in 1988 after a request from law enforcement in the Netherlands.

In his autobiography Mr De Mooi is said to have claimed that while living in Amsterdam in 1988 he may have killed a drug addict who was attempting to mug him by punching him and throwing him into a canal in Amsterdam.

The Dutch request is made possible by the European Arrest Warrant, legislation that allows members of the European Union to ask for help from other member countries in capturing people suspected of having perpetrated serious crimes.

For instance, if somebody commits a murder in Poland and then manages to escape to Huddersfield then the Polish authorities can request that West Yorkshire Police arrest and extradite the suspect.

West Yorkshire Police arrested 103 people under the European Arrest Warrant in 2015-16 according to the National Crime Agency.

This was the second highest number for any year on record behind 2014-15 when there were 104.

It takes the total number of people arrested under the legislation by West Yorkshire Police to 509 in the past seven years which is third largest number for any force.

During the same period the force has surrendered or extradited 360 people to the countries who requested help with the arrests.

The arrest warrants work both ways and over the seven years in question 48 people have been arrested abroad and 48 extradited on behalf of West Yorkshire Police.

Across the whole of the UK police forces have made a total of 10,532 arrests on behalf of our fellow EU nations in the past seven years.

Theft was the most common crime committed by these suspects, followed by fraud.

There were 211 cases of murder or manslaughter, 179 cases of rape and 106 cases of child sex offences.

Poland was the most likely country to request UK assistance with 5,811 (more than half of the total) arrests made on behalf of Polish authorities.

On the other side of the coin 1,054 arrests have been made on behalf of UK forces in the past seven years with Spain (265) and Ireland (193) being the countries helping most.

These 1,054 arrests include 116 cases of child sex offences, 81 cases of rape and 77 of murder or manslaughter.