Watch the woman telling how she spent three years in an abusive relationship
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Video Credit: Rumble
The drug and alcohol counselor has revealed how she spent three years in an abusive relationship with her partner.
31-year-old Gemma Bush, from Norwich, told that her boyfriend Christopher Bartrum was so controlling that he would steal her car keys, count the mileage on her car and even threatened to abandon her in the woods without shoes or a phone.
Gemma and Christopher met in a pub in 2015. The couple started dating and moved in together in April 2017. Within a few weeks, Christopher started controlling her.
He banned Gemma from meeting her friends and family, forced her to stay at home, would steal her car keys, count the mileage on her car, and even forced to transfer her partner cash for no reason.
He even threatened to abandon her in the woods without shoes or a phone.
Gemma tried to end the abusive relationship so many times but he would say that he would call social services and her children would be taken away. He even threatened her to post nude images of her online.
Gemma said: “When we first met, he was really loving, I’ve been married before and he cared about what was going on with me. But he turned very quickly.”
“If the miles didn’t add up on the car he would want to know where I’d been. He’d take my car keys so I couldn’t take the kids to school or to their dads, I was just stranded. He would say things like my friends weren’t good for me so I shouldn’t see them, he would act like he was saying it for my benefit.”
“He put me down a lot, I lost my mum to cancer when I was six and he’d say things like she’d be ashamed of me. That was the hardest thing to hear.”
Eventually, Gemma called the police and Christopher was arrested. He has been sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment at Norwich Crown Court.
Gemma has now revealed the details of her abusive relationship with her partner, Christopher. Gemma said: “I was volunteering when I first met him but he made me stop doing that.”
“One day, I snuck out for a coffee with my friends and one of his friends saw me and told him. I was been watched all the time. I couldn’t go anywhere without him finding out.”
She added: “My dad had his suspicions. He said to me ‘he’s got a hold on you but I don’t know what it is’ and then I was banned from seeing my dad. I didn’t speak to him for five to six months.”
Gemma says it’s been a lot better since he left and she has now moved on.
She is now with a new partner and her childhood friend Will. She has two children, Sophia, 8, and Oscar, 5.
Gemma is now sharing her story to help and encourage other victims of violence.
She said: “There is help and support, women say they can’t live without all these things, like if they don’t have their own money but there’s always a way. It took me so long. I was trying for years to get away.”
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