THE Barrow and Furness MP has welcomed an announcement that criminals will be tracked with GPS tags rather than given short prison sentences.

John Woodcock said Justice Secretary David Gauke’s plan was a “sensible and overdue” way to track criminals.

Officials say the programme will act as a deterrent to stop victims being targeted again, such as in domestic abuse or stalking cases.

The tags would provide 24/7 location monitoring for offenders in the community.

Mr Woodcock said: “This sounds like a sensible and overdue application of technology that is already routinely used on a range of domestic devices, and I hope it will be particularly useful for survivors of domestic abuse who can still be hounded by their abusers.

“The concern will be whether the scale of government austerity cuts damaging the police and criminal justice systems means there will not be the resources to bring offenders to book if they breach their requirements on them.”

If a tagged individual is found in an “exclusion zone”, an alert will automatically be triggered and sent to police or probation services.

Those found to have breached their conditions face being recalled to prison or brought before the courts.

The scheme also forms part of efforts to strengthen community sentences, which ministers say are more effective in rehabilitating some offenders than locking them up for a few weeks.

Mr 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 am confident that this important new technology will become a vital tool to increase public protection and strengthen options for tougher community sentences.”

The technology could be used to monitor individuals who are placed on court bail as well as convicts serving community orders or suspended sentences.

Tags could also imposed on offenders released under the home detention curfew scheme or on license following a life or indeterminate sentence.

They will be introduced in the summer.