It is six years since coercive control was made a crime, but while the number of cases has gone up, the prosecutions are not following suit. For a special documentary Ruth Dodsworth, who is herself a victim of coercive control, has been investigating whether enough is known and how to stop it.
Ruth, who has since remarried, is determined that her story will help others and has taken part in a new television programme, Controlled By My Partner? The Hidden Abuse. She spoke here about finding new love and re-learning what normal life is like.
The programme shows previously unseen police footage of the moment her ex-husband Jonathan Wignall was arrested after making more than 200 phone calls to his wife, and includes input from her daughter Grace who thought that her father's behaviour was normal..
