The celebrity auctioneer Charles Hanson has been unanimously cleared of coercive control and assault allegations made against him by his wife.
The trial heard allegations that Hanson, 46, put Rebecca Hanson in a headlock while she was pregnant with a baby she later lost, repeatedly “grabbed” her, locked her in a hotel room, pushed her and scratched her as she tried to snatch a mobile phone.
Charles Hanson had denied charges of controlling or coercive behaviour between 2015 and 2023, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and assault by beating.
The expert on the TV programmes Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip told Derby crown court he was “almost a slave” to his wife, who left him “a beaten and broken man” by controlling him.
The prosecution had previously said WhatsApp messages sent by the defendant to his wife, now 41, amounted to a “set of confessions” to the charges.
In his closing speech to jurors on Wednesday, the crown counsel Stephen Kemp said the messages, including one in which Hanson promised to never again “lay a finger” on his wife, provided a clear picture of the couple’s relationship.
The auctioneer’s counsel, Sasha Wass KC, previously told the trial that Hanson “was not controlled in any sense of the word” and was instead unstable and unhappy and “felt resentful and hard done by” at her husband’s work commitments before their marriage “imploded” in 2023.
Wass had asked the jury in her closing speech to consider whether an incident involving an alleged headlock, which Hanson claims was simply a hug, was “a real incident” that Rebecca Hanson had distorted to “build up a false case” against her husband.
On Friday, the jury foreman returned the not guilty verdicts on charges of coercive and controlling behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and assault by beating after a three-week trial.
The celebrity auctioneer’s parents, who were sitting in the public gallery, wept and hugged their son after he was discharged from the dock.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Hanson said: “I’m delighted that after a year and a half the truth has finally come out. It has been a tormentous time and all I want now is to readjust to what has been such an ordeal.”
