29/12/2016 Points West

A woman has described a new law which protects the victims

Mandy Scrivens from South Cerney suffered

terrible emotional abuse, for 12 years.

The legislation about coercive control came into force exactly

a year ago today and, because of it, Mandy's ex-partner is now in prison.

She has been speaking exclusively to our reporter, Laura Jones.

Looking forward to a brighter New Year

For Mandy and her four children, it is a fresh start,

away from her abusive and violent ex-partner.

So, Zac was about four and Lee smashed the door on Zac,

because he was so angry. He hurt Zac.

He would sometimes pick up Leon and throw him

at the top of the stairs. He is very scary.

He would not even have to touch you for you to be terrified.

His language and his body language. He is just so big.

Although Mandy's former partner was a very angry man,

he was also extremely emotionally abusive, controlling

every detail of Mandy and the children's lives.

It took years, and many attempts, before she finally

The thing with the control thing is that

they get in your head and convince you that you would never be able

to have another partner. I am actually struggling.

I struggle with relationships. He said that I could

never cope and look after the children by myself.

I would never have any money and all that sort of stuff.

I never had a car. He used to take the car.

I couldn't have a car, because he put it in his name.

Christmas and New Year can be a difficult, and often dangerous,

time of year for those living with domestic abuse.

But this year, for the first time, something has changed.

It means the sort of behaviour Mandy is describing

That new law is called the Coercive Control Act

and it is because of it that Mandy's ex, Lee Coleman,

is now serving three years in prison for his bullying and

It is a good result for Gloucestershire Police,

but investigating this sort of activity is tough.

It is a very different matter for the police

to understand and get their heads round, really.

We turn up to deal with someone who has been assaulted

If there is an injury, we can record it and ask who did it.

It is relatively straightforward and we can deal with that acute

But it is much more challenging when someone says they are living

I'm being controlled, he gives me no money, controls

who I see and is watching me on the comnputer.

That involves a whole new array of investigating techniques.

It is much more challenging and much more time-consuming.

It is quality time we need to invest in.

It has been a tremendously difficult year for Mandy, but she is

determined to put the past behind her and to focus on the future.

By speaking out, she is hoping to help others in similar situations

A man charged with the murder of his baby daughter in Bristol

on Christmas Day has made his first appearance in court.

Britton Gardens, in Kingswood, where six-month-old Aya Parker died

on Christmas morning. Police and paramedics were called

here in the early hours, but could not revive her.

Aya's death was treated as unexplained, at first,

until the results of a postmortem examination.

Her father, 33-year-old Lee Parker, was arrested.

Yesterday, he was charged and, today, he was in court.

Lee Parker's appearance here at Bristol Magistrates' Court

He confirmed his date of birth and his address.

He was told that he had been charged with the murder

of his baby daughter and that his case would be taken

Because of the Christmas break there, in practice,

that means he will be back here tomorrow morning,

Andy Howard, BBC Points West in Bristol.

A man jailed for leaving bacon at a Bristol mosque

has died in prison. Kevin Crehan, who was

35 and from Knowle, was given a 12-month

It followed an incident in which rashers of bacon

were placed on mosque door handles in Totterdown.

We understand there were no suspicious circumstances

An appeal to build a new base for Weston-Super-Mare's

lifeboat station has raised more than ?500,000.

The organisation has being trying to find a permanent home

12 possible sites have been rejected, but the RNLI says it hopes

to make an announcement in the New Year.

Now with a look at the weather across the West

Hello and a very good evening to you.

As we head into tomorrow, there will be much more cloud around,

That said, it should be a dry day or, at least, mostly a dry day.

The risk of seeing some fog around in the morning and some frost

will be reduced compared to, for example, this morning.

Temperatures will get down to freezing, or just below freezing,

in many parts of the countryside. Not so, everywhere, you will note.

Indeed, by tomorrow morning, some areas of fog of

will be much more reduced in scope, compared to some recent mornings,

and we will have, largely, a lot of cloud around

Some brighter spells, most certainly.

Possibly, the odd spot of drizzle over the likes of Exmoor,

maybe at times also into the Bristol Channel.

But on the whole, overwhelmingly dry.

Temperatures up compared to the last couple of days.

It is not going to feel that much milder,

not least with all the cloud cover around.

As we head through into Saturday, the brisk wind developing and mean

developing into the early hours of New Year's Day. Also, tunnelling

much colder. We are back with bulletins on BBC breakfast from 625.

Good evening. Hello. Fold and frost has been a

feature of the weather in recent mornings in England and Wales,

producing a wintry scene with Frost in Oxfordshire this morning. In

Highland Scotland, a completely different story. Thank you to our

weather watchers for the photos. Snow on the hills but temperatures

reaching double figures as the wind picked up and the weather systems

knocking on the door. That will be hanging around with outbreaks of

rain, blasting into Friday and Saturday as well. Further south,

barely any