Two brothers, whose abusive father fatally shot both their loving mum and sister, spoke of their tragedy at Dartford panel event last week.

Luke Hart, along with his brother Ryan, actively campaign for greater awareness of 'coercive control' after their mum, Claire, and sister, Charlotte, were ruthlessly killed in a leisure centre car park by their dad in 2016.

Coercive control is described as strategy used by abusers to dominate their intimate partners and maintain their privileges.

It typically involves some combination of isolation, degradation, micromanagement, manipulation, stalking, physical abuse, sexual coercion, threats, and punishment.

Both brothers claimed to have suffered horrendous emotional abuse and torment from their father all their lives.

Five days before their mother ans sister's unnecessary deaths, the brothers had helped them escape to a new address after saving up to fund the move, an event chronicled in their latest book.

Following their horrific experiences with this type of abusive behaviour, Luke was invited by members of the Dartford and Gravesham Labour Party Women’s Forum last week to discuss the issue of coercive control and raise awareness of ways to identify it in the home.

Luke went into detail of how he and his siblings were model children, excelling at school, and that their hard work was motivated by a mixture of a desire to give their father as little reason to bully them as possible, and a determination to one day finance a means of escaping for their mum and sister.

Speaking at the event,Organiser, and Stone House ward councillor, Kelly Grehan said "We have been running the Women’s Forum since November and we have had some marvellous speakers, but when we secured Luke as a speaker we decided we wanted to give as many people as possible the opportunity to hear what he has to say.

"We believe that anything we can do to increase understanding of what coercive control is, is a good thing and we were thrilled to have such a big crowd and an amazing response."

Kent County Councillor for Northfleet and Gravesend West, Lauren Sullivan said: "I feel privileged to have attended tonight.

"It is so important that stories like Luke’s are heard and that we raise awareness of what coercive control is and how it devastates lives."