The Home Office money will be used to equip a dedicated response car staffed with specialist domestic abuse investigation officers.

The car will cover Loughborough, Charnwood, North West Leicestershire, Melton and Rutland.

Local figures show that domestic abuse increases by 70% over Christmas.

Insp Tim McCabe said: "As well as supporting the victims of this cowardly crime, we will also be targeting repeat offenders by making follow up visits to them and letting them know that we are monitoring them.

"The campaign is designed to make sure those people who suffer abuse behind closed doors have the confidence to come forward and are then given the support and protection they need."

The campaign will run from 14 December to 6 January. During the same period last year, there were 302 incidents of domestic abuse across the North Leicestershire area.