Auctioneer's wife paralysed with fear, court told

Charles Hanson is on trial at Derby Crown Court

The wife of television auctioneer Charles Hanson was "paralysed with fear" when he was violent towards her while she was pregnant, a court has heard.

Rebecca Hanson told Derby Crown Court her husband had also threatened to burn her with embers from a fire.

Mr Hanson is on trial charged with controlling or coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and assault by beating.

The 46-year-old, of Ashbourne Road in Mackworth, Derby, denied all charges against him during a court appearance in February 2024.

On Tuesday, Mrs Hanson gave evidence behind a screen in the courtroom to block her from the view of the defendant, who is known for appearing on shows such as Bargain Hunt and Flog It!

Mrs Hanson told the jury that the couple's marriage was "generally OK" at the beginning before the violence "escalated".

She said she was "petrified" when the first incident happened in 2012, about two years after they married, when her husband "went for" her while she was five or six months' pregnant with a baby the couple later lost.

She said: "Charles had an operation for testicular cancer and I was pregnant. It's common that when Charles is ill, he gets extra irritable and angry."

Mrs Hanson said her husband had apologised after he attacked her

Mrs Hanson said during an argument, she threw an empty cardboard box for cappuccino sachets, which landed on the floor two metres away from him.

She said: "He just went for me. He just ran towards where I was stood in the doorframe.

"I turned around to protect my stomach and my baby. He got me round the throat.

"He's behind me with his arm around my throat, tight, with my head back.

"It felt like a very long time. I think realistically probably about four, five seconds, but it felt like minutes. I froze. I was absolutely petrified and in shock.

"I could not believe he was doing it.

"I think he was shocked at what he had done, I could not believe what he had done, especially because I was pregnant."

Sasha Wass KC, defending, addressed Mrs Hanson, and said: "Charles never put you in a headlock. What happened was this - he and you were having words.

"He said 'come on love' and he hugged you tightly around the shoulder, nowhere near your neck."

In response, Mrs Hanson said: "No way. That's 100%, 1,000,000%, not what happened."

Asked by prosecution barrister Stephen Kemp why she did not call the police after the alleged incidents, Mrs Hanson said: "I always say 'I'm going to call the police', and he knows I never will.

"He apologises and says he will never do it again. You think it's going to get better. It just goes on and on and on."

Mrs Hanson said there was another occasion in May 2021 when her husband "threatened to put burning embers from the fire" on her.

'Scared for years'

The court heard Mrs Hanson had confided in her mother-in-law, Gillian Hanson, who suggested the couple should go to marriage counselling.

Mrs Hanson said: "She [Gillian] would say, 'I will speak to Charles, he gets stressed with work and has got lots of things on'.

"I told her I want to leave, I'm scared, I'm going. She said, 'you can't, you have to make your marriage work'."

The court heard the couple went to one session of marriage counselling in May 2023, when Mr Hanson allegedly "promised" he would not hurt his wife any more.

Mrs Hanson said: "I think it was about time somebody else knew about all of this.

"I was not prepared to stay in this marriage any more."

Asked by Mr Kemp why Mr Hanson did not go to any further counselling sessions with her, she said: "He got arrested shortly after that."

The court heard the counsellor told Mrs Hanson she was going to call the police, which she was "more than happy with".

Mrs Hanson said: "I was a sparkly, happy, jokey person, and then I just got ground down, ground down, ground down into just being absolutely worthless. I've been scared for years."

The trial continues.