Bargain Hunt star Charles Hanson 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 the television auctioneer began using “sufficient force” against Rebecca Hanson to leave visible marks on some occasions from 2012, about two years after they married.
Hanson, 46, appeared at Derby Crown Court on Monday charged with controlling or coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and assault by beating.
When she spoke to him afterwards, he told her he felt he had to restrain her
He denied all charges during a court appearance in February last year.
Mrs Hanson estimated that “over the next 10 years” after it began, her husband would be violent towards her “every six months or so”, the jury was told.
Hanson appeared in the dock wearing a black suit and green tie, and shook his head in the dock as the prosecution told the jury that he had “put his arm around her (Mrs Hanson’s) neck and then put her into a headlock” on the first occasion of violence, during an argument in 2012.
The jury heard that the auctioneer, who has also appeared in Flog It! and Antiques Road Trip, “held his arm around her (Mrs Hanson’s) neck, under her chin from behind her, for a few seconds before just letting go again”, after she threw an empty box on the floor.
Opening the prosecution case, Stephen Kemp said: “Rebecca does not say she lost consciousness, but she was understandably scared and shocked by what her husband had just done to her.
“When she spoke to him afterwards, he told her he felt he had to restrain her.
“That is not accepted by either Rebecca Hanson or the prosecution. There was no need for that, and certainly not by means of a headlock.
“It seems that nothing more was done about this incident, but it was the first of many occasions when Mr Hanson would grab hold of his wife, we say, in anger.”
Mr Kemp added: “The marriage started off happily, as most marriages do. However, as time went on, things began to change and Charles Hanson began, on occasion, to use violence against his wife.
“The prosecution allege that, in addition to specific occasions when Mr Hanson assaulted his wife, his behaviour was such that it amounted to controlling or coercive behaviour.
“It was behaviour that the prosecution say was such that it had a serious effect on her, because it caused her to fear, on a number of occasions, that Mr Hanson would use violence against her.”
On another occasion, in 2015, it is alleged that Hanson, of Ashbourne Road in Mackworth, Derby, “gripped her so hard that it left three fingertip bruises on her arm” which “really hurt her and caused her to cry”.
Mr Kemp said: “She said she was too scared to call the police. 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.”
The prosecutor said it is alleged that on the second day of the first Covid lockdown in March 2020, Hanson was in a “bad mood” and “threw the landline telephone” at his wife, which hit her leg.
The court heard that that same day, Mrs Hanson messaged her mother saying: “Just to let you know that Charles is being pretty nasty to me at the moment.”
Mr Kemp said Mrs Hanson occasionally confided in her own mother and the defendant’s mother, Gillian Hanson, because of the violent incidents and “other strains on the marriage”.
The prosecution say that on another occasion, in May 2022, the couple had an argument because 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.
The court heard that in a message from Hanson to his wife in June 2023, he said: “You know I would never hurt you. I can go for sessions for my anger.”
Hanson was arrested from 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 Hanson’s wife relates to a period between 2015 and 2023.
Mr Kemp told the jury: “It did not come into force, that offence, until the 29th of December 2015. 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.
