A SOMERSET woman has told how her loving fiancée turned into an abusive monster once they got married.

Claire – not her real name – has opened up about the “domestic abuse without bruises” her husband doled out, and in the second part of our two-week feature on domestic abuse to highlight the issue, she tells her story.

She said: “The day we got married everything changed – literally overnight. He knew marriage was important to me as a Christian. He knew he had me.

“As soon as we got into the hotel room he said, ‘Go and have bath now’. I was in so much shock, I just went and had a bath. The honeymoon was horrible.”

The violence escalated when she became pregnant, with her husband coercing her into sex by threatening to sleep with “the girl down the road” if she turned him down.

Claire added: “It was rape, but I didn’t see it as such. I saw it as my wifely duty. It got to the point where I didn’t say anything. I was too scared not to have sex, too worried about the consequences.”

The abuse developed into temper outbursts, with her husband threatening “to kick the baby out of” Claire.

She said: “I loved giving birth, but it was tainted by his anger.

“During my contractions I asked for some lip balm and explained that he was looking in the wrong bag.

“He said, ‘You wait until this is over, I will get you’. I knew he meant he would kill me.”

Claire bravely told her story to coincide with last Thursday’s anniversary of a new law making controlling or coercive behaviour a crime – in the first year 59 people were arrested by Avon and Somerset Police.

Supt Andy Bennett, force domestic abuse lead, said: “Most people understand domestic abuse to be physical violence between two people in a relationship. While this is true, there are other, perhaps more subtle ways, someone can be controlled or abused by another in a domestic setting.

“It might include someone having their finances controlled, being told what to wear or humiliated on a daily basis – things that people outside looking in might not pick up on or see as domestic abuse.

“This legislation covers all familial relationships – not just partner or spouse.”

“Although this type of abuse is hard to prove, we want you to tell us and you will be believed.”

The law around coercive or controlling behaviour carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, a fine or both.

Domestic abuse victims can report incidents to police on 101 or via the force website or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.