MAGISTRATES have approved a 28-day domestic violence protection order which bans a Longtown man from contacting a woman.

Brendan John Cyril Bell, 34, of Arthuret Road, Longtown, was not in Carlisle's Rickergate court when magistrates approved the order following an application from Cumbria Police.

The order forbids any contact with the named woman, and it also bans Bell from the area of Carlisle where she lives.

Such orders are made when a court, on the balance of probabilities, concludes the protected party has been subjected to violence, or the threat of violence.

The court’s finding does not represent a conviction, though breaching such an order is a criminal offence.