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The campaign will drive home the message that one evening of romance can not make up for weeks, months or years of emotional or physical abuse.

It warns domestic violence abusers that they can no longer hide behind their partner's silence and that the police will and are able to take action.

The campaign was produced by the Advertising Syndicate prior to the appointment in January of Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy to handle its £2m ad account.

The Met launched its domestic violence campaign last year and last September more than 70 charges were brought against perpetrators following a London-wide operation designed to show the Met's determination to tackle domestic violence in the capital.

Since then six offenders have been convicted and sentenced while more than 30 others await trial. Verdicts range from community rehabilitation orders to jail sentences as well as civil resolutions though injunctions and other means.

The new campaign takes the form of a personal ad, in which a male voiceover says: "I'm Harry and I'm looking for a partner... I'm a bit of heartbreaker". A female voiceover then says how Harry also breaks jaws, noses and ribs.

Chief Supt Rod Jarman from the Met's diversity directorate said: "Last year's raids were a snapshot of the work that police officers are doing daily to tackle domestic violence in the capital. Domestic violence can affect any relationship."

The Met's research has shown that almost 85% of domestic violence abusers are men and nearly 67% are aged between 21 and 40. This advertising campaign is specifically targeted at them.

However Jarman said that while the majority of cases the Met deals with are men attacking women it is a crime that transcends gender, ethnicity, age and culture.

"We recognise men can be victims as can people in same sex relationships. We want to safeguard all victims so I would urge anyone suffering to have the courage to contact police," he said.

The Met has more than 500 dedicated officers from its community safety units handling more than 7,650 domestic violence incidents each month.

The campaign supports a new domestic violence protocol signed by the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service to bring perpetrators to justice. Since the new agreement was signed there have been a number of successful prosecutions.

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