A new study has revealed that coercive and controlling behaviour was present in more than half of domestic homicides where victims were killed by current or former partners. The research, conducted by Manchester Metropolitan University and seen exclusively by BBC News, analysed over 300 domestic homicide reviews in England and Wales between 2012 and 2018. Experts are calling for better understanding and earlier intervention by authorities, including police, the NHS, and social services.
One victim, Marion Price, was shot dead by her estranged husband Michael Reader in 2019 after he followed her home using a tracking device. Her son Gary described how Reader controlled his mother's finances and gradually isolated her, turning her from a 'bubbly' person into a 'shell of a woman'. Reader was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence.
A separate YouGov poll for BBC News found that a third of women aged 25 to 64 in the UK have experienced coercive control, defined as a pattern of assault, threats, humiliation, or intimidation. Almost half of women surveyed reported psychological or emotional abuse. One survivor, Mia, described economic abuse and escalating threats after the birth of her child, which only ended when her doctor intervened and helped her access a refuge.
Despite coercive control being a criminal offence in the UK since 2015, prosecutions remain low. In the year ending March 2021, there were 33,954 offences recorded but only 373 convictions. Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women's Aid, described the figures as 'disappointingly low'. Professor Khatidja Chantler, who led the study, stressed that authorities must do more to identify and intervene in abusive relationships before they turn deadly.
