POLICE will use new powers to prevent the death of women from domestic violence.

Essex Police, which has faced criticism for the way it has handled cases in the past, will roll out the use of Domestic Violence Protection Notices and Domestic Violence Prevention Orders by the summer.

The orders give police powers to evict those carrying out the abuse and ban them from coming a certain distance of the victim.

The scheme has been piloted in three areas across the country and is now being rolled out across England and Wales.

Det Insp Nick Burston, of the force’s public protection unit, said: “These protection notices will allow us to put in place protection for the victim in the immediate aftermath of a domestic violence incident.

“They can be used where the perpetrator is cautioned and bailed without conditions, but also where no further action is otherwise taken.

“If someone breaches a notice, they will be subject to immediate arrest and can then be remanded in custody to appear before a court for a full order to be considered.

“A breach of an order can lead to a maximum fine of £5,000 or a two-month prison sentence.”

Last week, the Southend Community Safety Partnership revealed numerous failings by Essex Police in the run up to the death of 47-year-old Jeanette Goodwin at the hands of her expartner Martin Bunch, 44, of Quebec Avenue, Southend, on July 24, 2011.

Bunch was found guilty of murder at Chelmsford Crown Court in August 2012 and jailed for life.

Essex Police also faced criticism over the case of Christine Chambers, 38, and her daughter Shania, two, who were shot dead in Braintree in 2011 by Ms Chambers’ former partner David Oakes, 50. He was jailed in 2012 for murdering the pair, but died in prison in February 2013.

The case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission after it emerged Ms Chambers had made complaints about attacks and intimidation.

The commission also found the force failed to properly recognise the risks when Maria Stubbings, 50, of Pitfield, Chelmsford, was assaulted by her partner Marc Chivers, in July 2008.

Five months later Chivers, who had spent 15 years in a German prison for killing another girlfriend, murdered the mother of two by strangling her.

Chivers had been given a fourmonth jail term for the July assault, but was released almost immediately having spent time on remand.

Within this time, police officers had removed a panic alarm from Ms Stubbings’s home.