A DETECTIVE sergeant has spoken out about the effectiveness of restraining orders in domestic violence cases.

It comes after Judge Euan Ambrose, sitting at Swindon Crown Court, said he felt demoralised at victims of domestic violence seeking to have orders lifted so they can resume a relationship. He made the comments as a young mum appeared before him asking to be able to see the man who is in prison for assaulting her on two occasions. He told her the order was imposed to protect her in case he turns out to “not be the person you hope, but the person who assaulted you”.

Now Detective Sergeant Jason Roberts, from the Public Protection Department at Wiltshire Police, has spoken about the importance of the orders and why they are used.

He said: “Restraining orders are a powerful tool to protect victims of domestic abuse from future violence.

“Although such orders are not routinely granted by the courts following conviction, Wiltshire Police work alongside both the Crown Prosecution Service and our domestic abuse partner agencies to support victims, ensuring that such opportunities for these types of orders are applied for where it is necessary to do so.

“This particular scenario is thankfully rare yet can demonstrate that persistent perpetrators of domestic abuse are very often controlling and manipulative individuals targeting vulnerable victims in various ways.

“Wiltshire Police deal robustly with all reports of domestic abuse and encourage victims to report such incidents to us.

“There are dedicated Dom-estic Abuse Investigation Teams across the county who work alongside support agencies to ensure that victims, and associated children, are afforded every protection possible and perpetrators are made to account for their actions.”

Wiltshire Police are continuing to trial two separate Home Office pilot schemes – the Domestic Violence Protection Orders and the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. Each are successfully designed to reduce the risk of domestic abuse re-offending by perpetrators and increase victim safety moving forward in the future.

For more information on either pilot scheme, contact Wiltshire Police Domestic Abuse Investigation Teams on 101.