This is how Monica felt who had to move across the country to flee her controlling partner. She told her story to the BBC to call for awareness around coercive control following the death of Kiena Dawes.

We joined the conversation alongside Family Law solicitor James Maguire.
Maguire Family Law commissioned research after realising an increasing number of North West client were either victims of, or perpetrators of coercive control.

Maguire Family Law have found:

• 1 in 5 adults in the North West have been victims of coercive control.
• 20% in the North West in a controlling relationship are still in it. This is higher than the national average.
• 45% were unsure of how to get help.

What is coercive control?

Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse. Coercive control is an act, or a pattern of acts, of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation that abusers use to harm, punish or frighten survivors. It doesn’t relate to a single incident – it is a purposeful pattern of behaviour.

Coercive control is a criminal offence, the maximum penalty for this offence is 5 years’ imprisonment, a fine or both.

It has been a criminal offence since 2015, worryingly 1/3 of people surveyed in the North West didn’t know that.

At TLC we often work with individuals who have a history of coercion. It is often part of the abuse perpetrated, in controlling relationships. We work to end these cycles by providing programmes to those who harm their partners, which instead encourage positive behaviour change.

Click here to read the BBC’s full article ‘I had no choice but to flee my controlling partner’.