'My killer stepdad was silent but deadly risk to mum'

Georgia Gabriel-Hooper with her mother Cheryl, who was killed by estranged husband Andrew Hooper

A woman who as a teen witnessed her mother being shot dead by her estranged husband has said he posed a "silent but deadly" risk in the relationship - "like carbon monoxide poisoning".

Georgia Gabriel-Hooper was 14 at the time of the murder in Newport, Shropshire, in 2018.

Now aged 20, she campaigns against domestic abuse and has used the occasion of what would have been mother Cheryl Hooper's 58th birthday to share her experience of the events and her work.

The campaigner remembered that while Andrew Hooper appeared "charming" at first, he was actually controlling. "You can't see it, you can't smell it until it's too late - unfortunately, that's how a lot of coercive control works," she said.

Mrs Hooper was killed outside her home before her husband shot and injured himself nearby.

Ms Gabriel-Hooper told BBC Radio Shropshire: "The campaigning I do, the talking, everything in the domestic abuse arena, has been the most cathartic thing. It's probably helped me heal and recover more than anything else.

"I've found some really good friends who unfortunately lost their parents in the same way, and having that support system is completely invaluable."

Andrew Hooper's coercive control of his wife ended with a shotgun attack in 2018

Ms Gabriel-Hooper, who on her mother's birthday lamented the things the pair had missed, has also recounted her experiences in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 series, Life Changing.

In the interview with Dr Sian Williams, she recalled being taken to Hooper's farm at the age of seven when her mother first met him.

As time went on, the coercive control he exerted slowly emerged.

"We lived in an environment where if we went out, we didn't know what we were going to come home to," she explained.

"He didn't necessarily kick off or start an argument. He was very much a silent treatment kind of person, and he would play mind games by not telling you why he was upset."

Life sentence

After being found guilty of murder by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court in June 2019, Hooper was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 31 years.

The trial heard how the farmer suspected his wife was having an affair, and, on the night she was killed, tracked her to a pub in Wolverhampton.

If you, or someone you know, has been affected by domestic abuse or violence, you can find details of support available on the BBC Action Line at bbc.co.uk/actionline. If you are in immediate danger, you should phone 999.

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