Shape of things to come... the new GPS tag (Image: nc)
Police or probation officials will be alerted automatically if an offender, who will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, walks into an "exclusion zone". Louts who flout the law will be hauled before judges or thrown back in jail. Officials say the project, which uses GPS navigation, will prevent victims being repeatedly targeted, such as in domestic abuse cases, stalking or ganglinked crimes.
The announcement comes as ministers try to strengthen community sentences to avoid short prison sentences.
Justice Secretary David Gauke said: "GPS tagging will help to better protect victims and give them the reassurance that perpetrators will not be able to breach an exclusion zone without triggering an immediate alert.
"I'm confident this important new technology will become a vital tool to increase public protection and strengthen options for tougher community sentences."
Officials told the Daily Express: "There will be 4,000 individuals GPS-tagged within a 12-month period with a maximum of 1,000 GPS tags in use at any one time."
Confident… David Gauke certain the tags will provide better support to victims (Image: PA)
Location monitoring can be used to enforce an exclusion zone - which an offender or individual on bail is barred from entering - and maintain a given distance from a specified address, such as a victim's home.
Officials have been testing the tags in the North-west, Midlands and North-east and say they will be rolled out across the rest of the country by summer.
The scheme will also be tested in London, with criminals caught with knives set to be monitored with the 24/7 tags.
Suspects "will have their movements checked against locations of reported crimes, in an effort to tackle violence in the capital", the Ministry of Justice says.
All tags will be monitored by a specialist unit in Manchester.
Liz Saville Roberts, who has been campaigning for GPS tracking of domestic abusers for two years, told the Daily Express: "This is fantastic news.
"It puts the onus of responsibility on the perpetrator and controls their behaviour instead of their victim's. There are so many people who are currently afraid to leave their own home because they are afraid they will bump into their abuser in the street or supermarket."
Between October 2016 and March 2018, the Ministry of Justice carried out a pilot in eight police force areas in England.
Harry Fletcher, of the Victims' Rights Campaign, told the Daily Express: "It's an excellent idea, giving victims an extra layer of protection. But unless the police are given extra resources,
