The heartbreaking tragedies that have become the norm in Greater Manchester

A young man stands in the dock accused of strangling his wife.

She was allegedly left terrified and unable to breathe.

It's the first case up on a weekday morning in Court 5 at Manchester Magistrate's Court, where I am spending the day reporting on domestic abuse hearings. It may sound shocking, but it's one of a number of cases the court has to get through today, in what is known as the building's dedicated domestic violence courtroom.

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Each one is a heart-wrenching tragedy. Yet what is equally heartbreaking is how common such cases are, the details of which are heard every day behind these doors, and in courtrooms across the country.

On average, one woman is killed by an abusive partner or ex every five days in England and Wales.

Women like Caroline Gore, who who was killed by her abusive ex-partner in Wigan last year.

Caroline, a 'kind' and 'caring' cleaner from Wigan, was killed by her violent ex-partner in her flat at Douglas House on the Scholes estate.

David Liptrot brutally stabbed the 44-year-old mother and grandmother-of-two after 'lying in wait' until she returned home on the night of October 29. Liptrot left Caroline slumped down on the bathroom floor, took her phone and locked the door behind him.

Despite their seriousness, domestic violence offences are massively underreported, and convictions have been on a downward trend since 2017. They are often seen as 'messy' and an extension of personal problems, rather than an endemic issue that we need to fix.

The young man up first has been charged with intentional strangulation - a serious offence that can carry up to five years in prison upon conviction. But he pleads not guilty,