Bargain Hunt star is accused of putting wife in headlock during ‘ten-year campaign of violence’

Bargain Hunt star Charles Hanson put his wife in a headlock during a ten-year campaign of violence, a court has been told.

The 46-year-old, who is 182cms and weighs almost 100kgs, attacked 165cm Rebecca Hanson, 40, leaving her “scared and shocked”, jurors were told.

He allegedly grabbed her arm “so hard that it left three fingertip bruises” on a separate occasion and also threatened divorce during a row about the layout of their kitchen, Derby Crown Court was told.

Hanson admitted having a bad temper and pledged to go an “anger management course” after his wife, a diagnostic radiographer, said she wanted to leave him, texts between the couple showed.

The antiques expert – who runs an auction house in Etwall, Derbyshire, and is a regular on BBC daytime shows Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip and Flog It! – is accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault by beating and controlling or coercive behaviour between December 2015 and June 2023.

He denies the charges.

Opening the case against Hanson, prosecutor Stephen Kemp said the couple, who married in 2010, were initially happy but “things began to change and Mr Hanson began, on occasion, to use violence against his wife”.

He said the first incident took place in 2012 and continued for about ten years.

Hanson would be violent towards his wife “approximately every six months”.

Mr Kemp added: “The violence was never such that she ever felt she needed to seek medical attention, she is not alleging she ever suffered any broken bones or anything as serious as that.

Rather, it would usually take the form of Mr Hanson grabbing hold of her and doing so with sufficient force so as to often leave marks on her.

“You will see, when [Ms Hanson] gives evidence, that she is a small woman, only about 5ft 5in tall and not much over 8 stone in weight. By contrast Mr Hanson... is over 6ft tall and not quite 16 stone.”

Mr Kemp described how the couple had been arguing in their kitchen when Ms Hanson threw an empty box on the floor, prompting Hanson to run towards her, put his arm around her neck from behind and force her into a headlock.

When she spoke to him afterwards, Hanson told her he felt he had to restrain her.

“That is not accepted by Rebecca Hanson or the prosecution,” Mr Kemp said.

“There was no need to restrain her at all, and certainly not by means of a headlock.”

He said it was the first of many occasions when Hanson would “grab his wife... in anger”.

In 2015, it is alleged that he grabbed her so hard that it left a bruise despite her wearing a thick, woolly jumper.

Mr Kemp said Ms Hanson was too scared to call the police but did tell her father and took a photograph of her arm injury.

Jurors were told that on March 24, 2020, Hanson was in a “bad mood” and threw a landline telephone at his wife during an argument, hitting her leg.

Two months later, Hanson is said to have filmed his wife shouting on his mobile phone.

When she tried to grab the device, he allegedly scratched her wrist.

He is also accused of grabbing her shoulder hard enough to leave a red mark during an argument about the layout of their kitchen in May 2022.

It is claimed Hanson pushed her after she swore at him a year later, too.

She then sent him a text message reading: “I shouldn’t be scared of my husband, they are meant to protect you, not hurt you.”

He replied: “I don’t know what to say... We both feel lousy. I came into our bedroom and I prodded you and then pushed you back. I was angry because you can use such awful language.”

Hanson further messaged: “Sorry. I just don’t want us to break up.”

She replied: “Then don’t chuck your wife around,” with her husband texting back: “I won’t ever again.”

The court heard Ms Hanson then “reached the stage where she felt she had to leave him” and told his mother, Gillian, who suggested they go to marriage counselling.

Police became involved soon after.

In another message dated June 2023, Hanson admitted having a “bad temper”, adding: “It is completely my fault and I have let myself down. Maybe I need to go to an anger management course.”

He was arrested at his £1.5million home in Quarndon, Derbyshire, later that month.

He accepted that he raised his voice at times during interviews, but denied ever putting her into a headlock or causing injury.

The case continues.