Bargain Hunt star Charles Hanson claimed alleged headlock to his pregnant spouse was ‘loving hug’ and he or she ‘cannot address a raised voice’, court docket hears

Bargain Hunt star Charles Hanson told police that an alleged headlock he put his pregnant wife in was actually a ‘loving’ hug, a court has heard.

The celebrity auctioneer claimed his wife Rebecca Hanson was a ‘fantasist’ who ‘can’t cope with a raised voice’ when he was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault in June 2023.

Prosecutors allege that he carried out a 10-year campaign of abuse and coercive control against his partner, assaulting her roughly once every six months since 2012.

Hanson denies charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault by beating and controlling or coercive behaviour between December 2015 and June 2023.

In police interviews that were read to Derby Crown Court, where the 46-year-old is standing trial, jurors heard that he flatly denied ever harming his wife, who is a hospital radiographer.

He said: ‘Hand on heart, I have never physically assaulted, punched, kicked, grabbed, or squeezed her.

‘If ever I raised my voice in any miniscule way she said I was abusing her. Rebecca gets upset by raised voices. If I raised my voice she would say, ‘You’re threatening me, you’re threatening me’. She can’t cope with a raised voice.’

Hanson later said he thought his partner was ‘very jealous’ of him and could ‘potentially ruin my career’ – which he described as ‘frightening.’

Bargain Hunt star Charles Hanson told police that an alleged headlock he put his pregnant wife in was actually a ‘loving’ hug, a court has heard. Pictured: Hanson outside Derby Crown Court on y February 13

Hanson – who as well as Bargain Hunt has appeared on the BBC daytime shows Flog it! and Antiques Road Trip – is accused of carrying out the alleged offences between 2015 and 2023

The celebrity auctioneer claimed his wife Rebecca Hanson was a ‘fantasist’ who ‘can’t cope with a raised voice’ when he was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault in June 2023. Here Hanson is pictured with Rebecca outside their Derbyshire home 

Jurors have been told Hanson, who owns an auction house based in Etwall, Derbyshire, first assaulted Rebecca during a row in their kitchen two years into their marriage, when she was pregnant with their son Tommy, who was later stillborn.

Giving evidence last week, she claimed he flew into a rage and held her in a headlock for four or five seconds, leaving her ‘paralysed’ in terror.

But when he was quizzed about it by detectives, Hanson said he was simply giving his wife a ‘big hug’ when she ‘went wild during a mood swing’.

In the interview, which was read to the court by Stephen Kemp, prosecuting, he said: ‘She was very stressed at that time. All I did was put my arm out, ‘Rebecca it will be ok, don’t worry’, and I held her tight.

‘I squeezed her in a loving way. It wasn’t forceful. It was like, ‘come over here’, and I squeezed her intimately. It wasn’t aggressive, it wasn’t a grab, it was focused on being warm and lovely. I think she was just on one in her mind in a mental state she didn’t want that.’

Hanson added that Rebecca later accused him of ‘killing their son’ as a result of the incident – an accusation he found ‘hurtful and really hard’.

He said: ‘She does have a tendency for these meltdowns. I think it is just crazy. It is so upsetting.

‘Rebecca can be a fantasist. She can exaggerate things and everything is exaggerated beyond reasonable belief, and I think that is the case with this hug and everything else down the line.’

Hanson is alleged to have left his wife, 42, in fear following a series of alleged violent incidents in their home, which included getting her in a headlock when she was pregnant, grabbing her so hard he left finger marks on her arm, throwing a phone at her and threatening to burn her with embers from their log fire.

Jurors have been told Hanson, who owns an auction house based in Etwall, Derbyshire, first assaulted Rebecca during a row in their kitchen two years into their marriage, when she was pregnant with their son Tommy, who was later stillborn

Pictured: Bargain Hunt star Charles Hanson (centre) leaves Derby Crown Court on Tuesday February 11. He is charged with occasioning actual bodily harm, assault by beating and controlling or coercive behaviour between December 2015 and June 2023 

Asked about the claim he had threatened to burn his wife with embers from their log fire, Hanson replied: ‘I may have said a joke about the fire, but nothing to think I would ever do something so stupid.’

He also claimed during the interview that his wife was ‘very cold’ and ‘never says anything nice to me or gives me a hug’ – preferring to watch TikTok than talk to him.

‘My wife has some serious issues mentally,’ he told officers.

Hanson went on to accuse Rebecca of ‘bullying him’, saying: ‘In the last six weeks she has been completely coercive to me. I was in tears last week.

‘I said, “I can’t cope with this”. Rebecca is so abusive. I think mentally she is not very well.’

Asked about a later assault allegation which is alleged to have happened in their bedroom after Rebecca swore at him, Hanson said: ‘I wish we had CCTV in our bedroom because it was literally a tiny prod on her shoulder.’

Hanson went on to tell the officers: ‘I am a good guy. I am a bloody good guy. I love Rebecca to bits. We have some good times. We have danced together, we have laughed together.

‘I can’t believe it. Something in her brain has said that’s it and completely switched over, and that’s it.

‘She said to me I will do something every six months. I said, ‘I don’t, I don’t, I don’t do that’.’

Hanson – who as well as Bargain Hunt has appeared on the BBC daytime shows Flog it! and Antiques Road Trip – is accused of carrying out the alleged offences between 2015 and 2023.

The trial continues.