Now controlling clothes and friends can be crime!

Campaigners from women's groups say there is too much focus on specific incidents in which someone was hurt by their partner. She said the law should take account of a 'course of conduct' and 'address a broad range of harm'.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Women's Aid said the criminal justice system was wrongly focused on 'individual incidents of physical violence' and failed to reflect the 'ongoing psychological harm caused by coercive control in intimate relationships.'

A survey of abuse victims carried out by the campaign group found 94 per cent of those surveyed said mental cruelty could be worse than physical violence. The Home Office's own definition of domestic violence already includes 'coercive control' - but until there has been no move towards making them a criminal offence.