BRITISH police have trained hundreds of Saudi Arabian officers in the last four years despite the regime’s appalling human rights record, it was revealed yesterday.

A Freedom of Information response from the UK College of Policing has revealed that since 2012 some 270 officers have been brought from Saudi Arabia to Britain for “specialist training.”

The £2.7 million deal also saw 26 British police officers deployed to the repressive Middle Eastern kingdom.

Human rights group Reprieve has established that in the past year, while the training was being provided, the number of people executed by the Saudi authorities rose sharply, from some 88 in 2014 to at least 158 last year.

The organisation has previously raised concerns over the government’s “overseas security and justice assistance” policy, which does not require ministers to reveal the details of help provided to foreign security forces.