Prison term for coercive control could double to 10 years under review

Prison terms for coercive control could double to 10 years under Government review after high-profile cases including ex-husband of weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth

  • Judges, police and frontline specialists told researchers the current maximum of five years did not go far enough to address the long-term impact of the offence
  • A review into its effectiveness is being carried out by the Home Office analysts after the offence of coercive and controlling behaviour was introduced in 2015
  • Research found six-fold increase in number of offences recorded in four years 

People who use coercive and controlling behaviour to abuse their partners could face up to 10 years in prison, according to a Government review.

The research found that there had been a six-fold increase in controlling and coercive behaviour (CCB) offences in the space of just four years.

A review into its effectiveness is being carried out by Home Office analysts after the offence of coercive and controlling behaviour was introduced in 2015. 

The offence has been brought to the fore in recent months because of a number of high-profile cases that have made headlines.

This includes the case of ITV’s weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth whose husband subjected her to a nine-year campaign of abuse.

The offence of coercive and controlling behaviour has hit headlines in recent weeks after prominent cases including that of ITV weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth (pictured) whose husband subjected her to a nine-year campaign of abusive and controlling behaviour

Jonathan Wignall used controlling behaviour which included reading her mail, tracking her car, and going out of his way to stop her from seeing friends and family.

Last month, Wignall was sentenced to a total of three years in custody, of which he will serve half before being released on licence.

He was given a restraining order against contacting Ms Dodsworth. 

The review was told by judges, police and frontline specialists that the current maximum sentence of five years does not go far enough to address the lasting damage caused by CCB.

Judges told researchers ‘the sentence length of controlling and coercive behaviour did not reflect the severity of the offence in some cases, which can involve multiple types of abuse over a number of years, and therefore in some cases warrants a greater sentence than physical abuse alone’. 

The study found that the number of CCB offences recorded by the police has increased from 4,2461 in 2016/17 to 24,8562 in 2019/20 but that only six per cent resulted in a prosecution. 


Jonathan Wignall (pictured, left, and, right, with Ruth) used controlling behaviour which included reading her mail, tracking her car, and stopping her from seeing friends and family

It also found that there was significant under-reporting and that the CCB offences often only came to light when police were called to deal with other offences such as violence at households.  

This meant that most prosecutions involving CCB were for cases where there were co-occurring offences, for example, with offences of violence against the person.

The report found that another reason for this may be that prosecutors are choosing to bring additional charges so as not to limit the maximum custodial sentence to five years.

It also found there was wide-spread support among professionals for increasing the maximum sentence to 10 years for those found guilty of CCB offences. 

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