TV auctioneer put wife in headlock, court hears

A TV auctioneer used violence against his wife over a 10-year period which began after he put her in a headlock during an argument, a court has heard.

A jury was told that Charles Hanson began using “sufficient force” against Rebecca Hanson to leave visible marks on some occasions from 2012, about two years after they married.

Mr Hanson, 46, appeared at Derby Crown Court on Monday charged with controlling or coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and assault by beating.

He denied all charges against him during a court appearance in February 2024.

Mrs Hanson estimated that her husband would be violent to her “every six months or so” following the first incident, the jury was told.

On one occasion in 2015, it is alleged that Mr Hanson, of Ashbourne Road in Mackworth, Derby, “gripped her so hard that it left three fingertip bruises on her arm” which “really hurt and caused her to cry”.

Prosecutor Stephen Kemp said Mrs Hanson was “too scared to call the police”.

He added: “What she did do was, she took a photograph in a mirror of the injury to her arm shortly after this incident, and then she took another a few days later when the bruising had come out.”

According to the prosecution, the couple had an argument in May 2022 because Mr Hanson did not like the layout of their kitchen, and he grabbed her “so forcefully that he left a red mark on her shoulder”.

In a message in May 2023, after the defendant allegedly pushed her twice, Mrs Hanson said to her husband: “I shouldn’t be scared of my husband, they are meant to protect you, not hurt you.”

The court heard that in early 2023, Mrs Hanson “reached the stage where she felt she had to leave” her husband, before they both spoke to a marriage counsellor.

Mr Hanson was arrested at his home in June 2023 and “denied having grabbed, poked or squeezed” his wife, during a police interview.

The charge of controlling or coercive behaviour against Mrs Hanson relates to a period between 2015 and 2023.

Mr Kemp told the jury the offence did not come into force until 29 December 2015.

He said: “Until that date whatever behaviour took place beforehand, it could not be an offence of controlling or coercive behaviour.”

The trial, which is expected to last up to two weeks, continues.