ITV weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth has described how her abusive ex-husband wouldn’t even let her buy a sandwich for lunch without his permission.
For decades, Ruth Dodsworth has been a familiar face on ITV Wales where she has fronted the channel’s weather coverage.
But, for many of those years, Ms Dodsworth privately suffered at the hands of her husband’s coercive and controlling behaviour.
Jonathan Wignall would pocket his wife’s salary and then give Ms Dodsworth the exact amount of cash to cover her lunches, which was just one of the ways he ensured his wife was financially dependent on him so he could ‘maintain control’ and keep her ‘isolated’.
On top of this, Wignall hounded the TV host by ringing her dozens of times a day and turning up at her television studio – and even pressed her fingerprint into her phone while she was sleeping so he could gain access to check her messages.
Wignall was jailed for coercive and controlling behaviour and stalking in 2021.
Although he was released from jail, just over a year later, the ex-husband now has a restraining order stopping him from contacting his former wife.
Speaking to the BBC’s Emma Barnett, Ms Dodsworth spoke about how Wignall’s actions have had a lasting impact after she was left ‘absolutely penniless’ and with debts in her name that she ‘knew nothing about’.
When the couple first started dating, when Ms Dodsworth was in her early 20s, Wignall was ‘charismatic’ and had ‘money’.
Ruth Dodsworth with her ex-husband Jonathan Wignall who abused his wife through coercive control for many years
For decades, Ruth Dodsworth has been a familiar face on ITV Wales where she has fronted the channel’s weather coverage. But, for many of those years, Ms Dodsworth privately suffered at the hands of her husband’s abusive behaviour
After their wedding in 2002, the couple were happily married until Wignall’s nightclub business started to fail which led to a shift in the dynamic of their relationship when Ms Dodsworth became the breadwinner for the house.
Over time, Wignall exercised more and more financial control over his wife. Her bank card ‘disappeared’ and eventually the weather presenter found herself with no access to her own money.
She said: ‘My salary would go into my bank account but then he would take it out, so I would say in the last few years I had absolutely no access to my own money.
‘I had to ask him for money if I wanted to buy a sandwich at lunchtime. I would get the exact amount so he knew I could go and get a meal deal from a local supermarket and it didn’t give me the means to go elsewhere, to sort of socialise with work colleagues, who may perhaps have been male.’
Wignall’s behaviour only worsened in the latter years of their marriage leaving Ms Dodsworth ‘terrified’ of her husband.
Wignall would demand access to her phone so he could check her messages and delete contacts he didn’t like. He also watched her use the toilet and shower in case she was using her phone in the bathroom and accompanied her to medical appointments.
The ex-husband even placed a tracking device under the steering wheel of her car and slapped her around the face if she fell asleep before him.
But throughout all this Ms Dodsworth continued to front ITV Wales’ weather where she would often ‘cry all the way’ to work before locking herself in the dressing room to ‘pile as much makeup on as I possibly could’.
Wignall was jailed for coercive and controlling behaviour and stalking in 2021
Ms Dodsworth at the Welsh BAFTAs. But throughout all her abuse Ms Dodsworth continued to front ITV Wales’ weather where she would often ‘cry all the way’ to work before locking herself in the dressing room
The tipping point in the marriage finally came in October 2019 when her two children rang their mother at work warning her not to come home.
She continued: ‘The last conversation I had was with a man who was irrational, made no sense, was screaming and shouting [that he was] going to get in the car and drive to ITV to get me, because at this point the children were ringing me saying don’t come home.’
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The next day, Wignall was arrested and it was after her visit to the police station to provide a statement that Ms Dodsworth started to understand the abuse she had endured.
It was here that a police liaison officer handed Ms Dodsworth what she described as ‘an idiot’s guide to coercive controlling behaviour’ which gave her ‘a moment of clarity’.
After he was jailed in April 2021, Ms Dodsworth was finally free to live her life but now had to face the fact everyone now knew ‘about some of the worst moments of my life’.
She also had to rebuild her life which has not been easy thanks to her husband’s poor financial decisions that ‘absolutely destroyed’ her credit rating.
Ms Dodsworth said her parents had to act as guarantors so she could rent a home, calling it a ‘very degrading process’.
But with every small step, whether that is having access to her bank account again or simply buying a coffee, she has started to rebuild her life.
Since leaving Wignall, Ms Dodsworth has been candid about the abuse speaking openly about what coercive control is.
Appearing on Loose Women in 2022, she discussed how the abuse started, saying: ‘I didn’t know what coercive control was but my relationship was definitely one defined by coercive control.
Ms Dodsworth and Wignall when they were younger. For many years, the couple were happily married until Wignall’s nightclub business started to fail which led to a shift in the dynamic of their relationship
Since leaving Wignall, Ms Dodsworth has been candid about the abuse speaking openly about what coercive control is
‘It started off with a little bit of possessiveness and you think “oh he must really love me” then suddenly it becomes really overwhelming and overpowering.
‘It’s all very insidious and it happens under the radar, it was so subtle. I lived with it for 20 years I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know it was coercive control.’
But most importantly, Ms Dodsworth wants to show people that ‘you can rebuild, you can go on and have a life’.
The presenter added that she is ‘having a very happy life’ now with the abuse firmly behind her.
