MAGISTRATES in Swindon, Chippenham and Salisbury granted 10 more Domestic Violence Protection Orders in March to keep perpetrators at a safe distance from their victims.

At the three-quarter stage of the year-long Home Office pilot, the running total of DVPOs stood at 114, with 21 applications having been declined by the courts.

Police in Wiltshire, Greater Manchester and West Mercia began testing the so-called ‘Go orders’ last July. The pilot, due to end on June 30, is being evaluated by university academics.

Since the trial started, magistrates have granted 90 orders for the maximum 28 days, one for 25 days, 10 for 21 days and 13 for 14 days.

Fifty-four DVPOs have been issued to perpetrators in Swindon, 31 in the area served by Chippenham magistrates and 29 in and around Salisbury.

Detective Inspector Matt Stone, the Force lead on domestic abuse, said: “The Chief Constable is determined that Wiltshire will continue to be the safest county in the country.

“The DVPO pilot, and the wider work of our Domestic Abuse Investigation Team, is contributing to the goal of keeping Wiltshire people out of harm’s way.

“Our team continue successfully to apply for DVPOs to enable victims of abuse to seek the support they want from our partner agencies. Together we use a number of approaches to help these victims break free from the abuse they are subjected to.

“We remain committed to supporting victims of abuse with all the means available to us and we will take positive action against the perpetrators.

“We recognise the importance of DVPOs and have already begun provisional work with the evaluators to assess the impact of this trial.”