‘On Tuesday 29th December 2015, Section 76 Serious Crime Act 2015 came into force, this introduced the new criminal offence of “Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship“. This offence has been introduced to strength the powers of the police, prosecution and courts in combating domestic abuse and dealing with those cases when an individual is trapped in a controlling and abusive relationship, but may not have been physically assaulted. It is also aimed to deal with the difficulties of obtaining convictions for offences under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 as evidence in the case of R v Curtis [2010] EWCA Crim 123; [2010] 1 Cr. App. R. 31.’
Park Square Barristers, 6th January 2016
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
