ITV weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth has shared a harrowing picture her abusive ex husband sent her children in a bid to manipulate them.
The 46-year-old broadcaster was subjected to a nine-year campaign of abuse by Jonathan Wignall. Wignall was jailed last year for coercive behaviour against the mother of his children.
He has been refused early home release, but Ruth is still preparing for him getting out of prison later this year. While his shadow still hangs heavy, Ruth said she is determined to look for the positives, is learning to live her life again and has a burning desire to use her case to help others, Wales Online reports.
READ MORE: ITV weather presenter tells of coercive control she endured for nine years at hands of ex-husband
Ahead of the airing of a new documentary being shown on Thursday night about coercive control and her experience in an abusive marriage, Ruth spoke out about his release later this year. She said: "I still wrestle with the whole idea that this man I spent a long time with, 20 years of my life, is in prison.
"I never set out for that to happen. And in fairness to the police, they've pointed out that I haven't put him there. He's put himself in there with his behaviour.
"When he was initially sentenced, the judge told him 'You're a danger to your to your ex-wife and children and you are evil'. How much will a year behind bars have changed this man who has lived his whole life showing these patterns of behaviour? I'd like to think that things have changed, but he'd never shown any remorse."
"And so my worry is that he will come out a far more dangerous person than he was when he went in and I'm really scared about him coming out. But I want to tell anyone in a similar situation, you can have a happy life after."
Ruth, who has since remarried, is determined that her story will help others and has taken part in a new television programme, Controlled By My Partner? The Hidden Abuse. The programme will show previously unseen police footage of the moment he was arrested after making more than 200 phone calls to his wife, and includes input from her daughter Grace.
Ruth shared a text which her ex-partner sent in an attempt to manipulate her children. The tweet shows an image of Ruth in hospital and the text: "This is what it looks like when you don't want your children anymore".
In a tweet, she wrote: "Three years ago I was taken into hospital. He photographed everything. I never knew why. After he was arrested months later this is the message he sent my children. He couldn’t manipulate me anymore. So he tried to manipulate them."
Nightclub owner Jonathan Wignall was sentenced to three years in prison last April after he pleaded guilty to stalking and coercive control. He had subjected Ruth to a nine-year campaign of abuse.
In the show, Ruth discusses how it took her years to recognise she was being abused and how her children’s fears for her safety made her realise Wignall’s behaviour was not normal. She said: “I had no idea that the threats and manipulation my ex-husband used for almost a decade were actually a pattern of criminal behaviour.
“He would call me dozens of times a day, wanting to know where I was and who I was with. He would check my phone and even delete contacts from it. He would turn up at my workplace or insist that I leave the studio to eat lunch with him in his car.”
Ruth added: “It wasn’t until my own children began to fear for my safety that I realised what was going on wasn’t normal. In October 2019, I finally called the police and my then-husband was arrested. My ex-husband was jailed for just three years and nine months, but could be released later this year after serving less than half of his sentence – I can’t pretend I’m not scared, but I am trying to stay positive.”
Controlled By My Partner? The Hidden Abuse airs at 8.30pm on Thursday (May 5) on ITV and the ITV Hub
