After a distant ancestor lit out from the town 240 years ago to fight in the American War of Independence, Lorne Green has returned to Attleborough.

The 70-year-old, who is the Conservative candidate to be Norfolk's new police and crime commissioner (PCC), said he was thrilled to be making a 'homecoming', to the town where he had deep roots.

'Thank you for welcoming me home,' he told a group of Probus club members at the Connaught Bowls Club.

Mr Green, who moved to Snettisham 17 years ago from Canada and is now a British citizen, also canvassed around the town ahead of the May 5 election for a new PCC.

He is a former Canadian diplomat and has worked in both Pakistan and the former Yugoslavia when both countries were in the midst of war.

Mr Green said the postings had given him valuable experience for a role at the top of the county's police force.

He said: 'I felt that my experience in dealing with security affairs was entirely relevant.

'Another reason I had to put myself forward is a sense of public service.'

Mr Green said his Attleborough ancestor Private John Battersby was baptised in the parish church in 1761, and left the country as part of the First Staffordshire Regiment when he was 17.

After British forces surrendered at Yorktown in 1781, Pte Battersby took the government's offer of a land grant in Nova Scotia.

Mr Green married his wife, who is from Norfolk, in Snettisham 40 years ago and they have owned a house in the village for the past 33 years.

Mr Green said increasing visible police presence on the streets would be a top priority if he were successful in his bid to become PCC.

He said other areas he wanted to tackle were rural crime, speeding, dangerous driving and working to reduce the number of offenders re-offending.

'If we don't know well what causes the offender to offend in the first place, it is difficult to know what the best interventions should be to make him or her decide in future to turn their backs on offending.'

Other candidates for the role of PCC are the incumbent Stephen Bett (independent), Chris Jones (Labour), David Moreland (Ukip), Jacqueline Howe (Liberal Democrat), Martin Schmierer (Green Party).

Candidates for Suffolk's PCC are Terence Carter (Green Party), Helen Korfanty (Liberal Democrats), Tim Passmore (Conservative and Unionist Party), Cath Pickles (Labour) and Simon Tobin (Ukip).