Controlled: Can I Trust My Partner?

Channel 4

2 Dec

Journalist Daisy Maskell reveals shocking new data showing reports to the police from under-30s of an abusive partner have almost tripled in the last 10 years.

With analysis of two million police reports, and a survey of almost a thousand victim-survivors, Daisy investigates why partner abuse is surging among young people, and asks what can be done.

She meets victim-survivors to learn about the devastating toll of abuse, and hears how inexperience, childhood exposure, and social media - which sometimes normalises and even romanticises abuse - are all making young people more vulnerable.

Together with her boyfriend, she launches a bold experiment to explore the powers of stalkerware: hidden apps used by abusers to secretly tap into their victims’ phones and spy on them 24/7. We reveal that police have seen a massive increase in complaints about this technology in the last three years.

Daisy also goes to Hampshire to learn about Project Foundation - a unique and innovative police and charity-run programme tackling abusers aged 18-30. And she meets young survivors campaigning for mandatory relationships education to help 16-18 year olds to better tell the difference between toxic “love” and the real thing.