Earlier, Hanson’s counsel, Sasha Wass KC, claimed the Bargain Hunt star’s wife, Rebecca 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.
In his closing speech to jurors on Wednesday, Crown counsel Stephen Kemp said the messages, including one in which Hanson promised to never again “lay a finger” on his wife, provide a clear picture of the couple’s relationship.
The trial has heard allegations that Hanson put his wife 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.
Mr Kemp also alleged that the account given to the court by 46-year-old Hanson, of Ashbourne Road in Mackworth, Derby, “stretched credulity beyond any reasonable limit”.
“The reality, I suggest, is that Rebecca Hanson is none of those things and she has used this court, a criminal court, as an extension of her divorce battle.
