An average of 80 reports of domestic abuse are made to Essex Police every day, the force has said.

The service has used protection orders to keep almost 500 victims safe but deals with more than 26,000 incidents every year, it said today (May 6).

The shocking statistics were highlighted today after eight outstanding domestic abuse suspects were arrested elsewhere in the county.

Detective superintendent Mark Wheeler said: “We are committed to bringing offenders to justice and protecting victims and their children.

“This operation will be ongoing throughout the year and bolsters the work we are already doing every day to investigate reports of domestic abuse and protect vulnerable people in our county.”

The service said it is “pioneering” use of body-worn video cameras to capture evidence of abuse and is using Clare’s Law, a scheme for people to find out if their partners have a history of domestic violence.

Victims of domestic abuse can phone the Domestic Abuse Central Referral Unit by phoning 101 with extension 180340, a dedicated domestic abuse non-emergency number on 0800 358 0351, non-emergency number 101 or 999 in an emergency.