A CAMPAIGN raising awareness of coercive control has been launched across Wales.

The Welsh Government campaign ‘This is Not Love. This is Control’ aims to help people identify coercive control behaviours and is supported by a son whose mother and sister were murdered by his abusive father.

Coercive control is a form of abuse and can be subtle, making it difficult to identify and to recognise as wrong and abusive. Those experiencing it are often left feeling isolated and examples can include limiting access to money, dictating what they can wear and making them cut contact with friends and family.

Jane Hutt, the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, said: “The ‘This is Not Love. This is Control’ campaign is the next step in our on-going pledge to tackle violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence in Wales.

“Coercive control had been fairly under the radar until recently. With the remarkable support of survivors and partner organisations, we hope this campaign will raise awareness of this toxic behaviour and empower more people to come forward.”

An estimated two million adults in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse last year - 65 per cent women and 35 per cent men.

Coercive control has been a criminal offence since 2015 and last year, 9,053 offences were recorded by police across England and Wales. Those being prosecuted faced on average 17 months imprisonment.

The campaign is part of the Welsh Government’s commitment to ending domestic violence in Wales. The Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act was launched in 2015 and an information and advice service, Live Fear Free, offers support 24/7 via a helpline and live chat.

At a recent launch event on January 17 at the Riverfront in Newport, the audience heard moving speeches and audio clips from survivors of coercive control.

Of those speaking was Luke Hart whose mother Claire and sister Charlotte were murdered in broad daylight by their father using a sawn-off shotgun. He then committed suicide.

Following the deaths, Luke and his brother Ryan started a project called CoCo Awareness and they now spend their time raising awareness and speaking out against male violence towards women and children.

Luke said: “’This is Not Love. This is Control’ is a vitally important campaign. We grew up under a coercively controlling father and neither we nor anyone else saw the signs for 26 years until he murdered our mother Claire and 19-year-old sister Charlotte in 2016.

“The perpetrator’s desire for control lies behind all abuse, we must stop seeing abuse as ‘an emotional loss of control’ but rather as driven by masculine belief systems, in particular an obsessive demand for power, control and dominance: the perpetrator in fact demonstrates an excess of control, not a lack of it.

“Currently, most people are surprised and shocked by domestic abuse when it surfaces, but this is precisely because we are looking for the wrong things. This campaign will help educate us all on what we need to be looking for.”

Gwendolyn Sterk, policy and public affairs manager for Welsh Women’s Aid, said the charity welcomes the government highlighting the issue and making it known it is a criminal offence.

She added: “Often, all it takes for a woman in a controlling or abusive relationship to seek help, is to have a conversation with someone who believes them."

Anyone experiencing coercive control or any form of domestic abuse can call the Live Fear Free helpling on 0808 8010 800 or livefearfree.gov.wales.