BBC Bargain Hunt’s Charles Hanson told wife he’d ‘never lay finger’ on her days before arrest as texts emerge in court
TV auctioneer Charles Hanson promised his wife he would “never lay a finger” on her just days before his arrest last June 2024, Derby Crown Court heard yesterday.
The 46-year-old Bargain Hunt star faces charges of controlling or coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault by beating.
Prosecutors allege Hanson subjected his wife Rebecca to a decade of violence beginning in 2012, including pushing, grabbing, scratching and holding her in a headlock.
The incidents allegedly started two years after their marriage in 2010.
WhatsApp messages read to the court by prosecutor Stephen Kemp revealed Hanson’s attempts to save his marriage on multiple occasions after his “abusive” behaviour.
On June 5, 2024, Hanson wrote to his wife: “I promise now I will never ever lay a finger on you … ever again. Let’s just give it a go, we have been through a lot in 13 years.”
In the same exchange, he pleaded: “Let me have one more chance and let me show you what a good husband … I can be.”
Mrs Hanson reportedly replied: “Fed up with this, you will never change.”
Days later, Hanson once again messaged his wife and made another plea for their marriage to be saved and said: “I know if I do anything with laying hands on again I will have to walk.
“I really do want to try and make it work, I love you and realise what I need to do. Can we not give it a two-week cooling off and see where we are?”
Mrs Hanson responded once again: “I’m past that point I’m afraid.”
Shortly before his arrest on June 14, Mrs Hanson texted that she wanted to separate after he had “pushed her too far.”
Mrs Hanson’s mother, Jacqueline Ludlam, told the court their relationship began as “quite a normal marriage” before Hanson’s “outbursts” became more frequent.
“She had been telling me she was scared of him and she had got to get away from him. It was not very practical for her to leave,” she testified.
The jury heard Hanson was “desperate” to save the marriage and agreed to counselling, though the couple attended just one session in May 2023.
The trial, which began on February 10, 2025, is expected to last between seven and 10 days.
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Proceedings were disrupted earlier this week when defence barrister Sasha Wass KC became stuck on a train between London and Derby.
The jury was sent home at 11am on Monday due to transport issues, with the three-hour rail journey causing unexpected delays and will continue at Derby Crown Court.