‘A complete subversion of a personal relationship’
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A victim of domestic abuse has spoken out, a decade after coercive control became a criminal offence in the UK, about how long it took her to realise her ex-husband was abusing her.
Alice, which is not her real name, met her ex-husband at university and said during the marriage she did what he wanted to “keep the peace”.
The mother-of-three said it was “very hard to recognise coercive control” and initially thought it was down to “complicated communication issues”.
Data obtained from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by the BBC showed there is an upward trend in the number of prosecutions in the last decade in the South East – from 18 in 2016 to 438 in 2024.
According to domestic abuse support charity Safe Lives, coercive control “describes a range of behaviours that allow someone to gain or keep control of a partner, ex-partner or family member” and is “a complete subversion of a personal relationship”.
“There were limitations for what you could do,” said Alice. “It was really confusing because of the mental game-playing that went on.”
It has been 10 years since coercive control became a criminal offence in the UK.
Under the Serious Crime Act 2015 coercive control in an intimate or family relationship carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
The BBC obtained data from Surrey and Sussex Police through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request which revealed the number of coercive control cases recorded in the two counties.
In the past five years, Surrey Police recorded more than 3,000 reports. Of these, 40% led to arrests and 7% resulted in charges.
In the last decade, Sussex Police recorded more than 7,000 reports. Of these, 36% led to arrests and only 3% resulted in charges.
An FOI request was also submitted to Kent Police however, the force has not supplied the information at the time of publication.
Content retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7z01vymj2o.
