Wife of TV auctioneer Charles Hanson was ‘paralysed with fear during violence’

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

Rebecca Hanson told Derby Crown Court on Tuesday that on another occasion her husband, who is accused of hurting and leaving marks on her during 10 years of violence, threatened to burn her with embers from a fire.

Mrs Hanson appeared behind a screen in the courtroom to block her from the view of the defendant and the public gallery.

Hanson, who is known for appearing on Bargain Hunt and Flog It!, sat in the dock wearing a black suit, with members of his family supporting him in court.

The 46-year-old television personality, of Ashbourne Road in Mackworth, Derby, is charged with controlling or coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and assault by beating, which he has denied.

His wife told the jury of seven women and five men that their marriage was “generally OK” at the beginning before the violence “escalated”.

Mrs Hanson said she was “petrified” when the first incident happened in 2012, around 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 told the court: “Charles had obviously 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 that during an argument she threw an empty cardboard box for cappuccino sachets which landed on the floor two metres away from him.

She told the jury: “He just went for me.

“He just ran towards where I was stood in the door frame. 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 completely froze, I was paralysed with fear. 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, said to Mrs Hanson: “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.”

Mrs Hanson replied: “No way. That’s 100%, one million percent, 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 told the court there was another occasion in May 2021 when her husband “threatened to put burning embers from the fire” on her.

The court heard that Mrs Hanson 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 that the couple went to one session of marriage counselling in May 2023, where Hanson allegedly “promised” he would not hurt his wife anymore.

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 anymore.”

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

The court heard that 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.

“During my marriage with Charles I used to get a lot of chest pain, very anxious, very worried.”

The trial continues.