NEARLY 200 coercive control offences were recorded by Thames Valley Police last year, new figures have revealed.

Coercive control – introduced as a new offence in 2015 – is a behaviour used by an abuser to harm, punish or frighten their victim and can include assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation.

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In 2018/19 the force recorded 197 coercive control offences, figures from the Home Office have shown.

In the South East region, 2,480 were recorded.

This is the first year that figures have been released broken down by police force area.

But across England and Wales, the number almost doubled from 9.053 in 2017-18 to 17,616 last year.