GETTY • POSED BY MODELS The new law will criminalise behaviour that is abusive, controlling or coercive

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The new law will criminalise behaviour that is abusive, controlling or coercive. It will include preventing access to bank accounts, nonpayment of child allowances and confiscating passports and car keys. It will also increase the time limit on bringing domestic violence prosecutions. Crimes had to be reported within six months but victims will now have two years.

GETTY • POSED BY MODELS Preventing access to bank accounts and nonpayment of child allowances will be punishable

An amendment was made to the Serious Crime Bill earlier this year but the law’s implementation was delayed to allow training and guidelines for the police and Crown Prosecution Service. It becomes law on Tuesday. Last night Shireen Jamil, 60, who endured a controlling relationship and campaigned for a change in the law, said: “We have heard that two women a week are killed by their husbands and partners in this country. “This figure is unacceptable. But what we are not given is a figure for the number of women who commit suicide every week, due to not just physical violence, but the even more sinister abuse that has finally become a crime. And that is coercive control.”

GETTY Former Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd worked with Shireen Jamil to get the law passed

For too long, victims of coercive control have had no redress Harry Fletcher

She said she was grateful that the new law was passed, adding: “It is very gratifying to know that future generations will benefit from getting the justice denied to me.” Harry Fletcher, of Digital Trust, a charity which supports victims of online abuse, worked with Shireen and former Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd to get the law passed. Mr Fletcher said that so far convictions have only been based on physical violence. He said: “For too long, victims of coercive control have had no redress. “For too long, criminal justice professionals have failed to recognise the serious nature of this behaviour.”

GETTY • POSED BY MODELS Abusers often exert control by using car tracking devices