TV presenter says abusive ex gave her no access to her own money

An important development from the financial markets: TV presenter says abusive ex gave her no access to her own money4 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleRosie MercerBBC WalesITV Wales / Mike GriffithsRuth Dodsworth has presented the weather for ITV Wales since 2000TV presenter Ruth Dodsworth has described how she had to ask her ex-husband for cash to buy herself anything after he gave her "absolutely no access" to her own money. Dodsworth's former husband Jonathan Wignall was jailed in 2021 for coercive and controlling behaviour and stalking. Dodsworth, best known for presenting the weather on ITV Wales, said she later discovered she had been left "absolutely penniless" and with debts in her name that she "knew nothing about".

She also recalled the "bewilderment" of reporting Wignall to the police, adding she previously did not know what controlling behaviour was. Speaking on Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, Dodsworth said she first met Wignall in her early 20s, adding he "was charismatic, he had money, I just thought 'wow'". But she said their relationship changed after Wignall's nightclub business started to fail.

Economic Details

"He went from being effectively this larger than life successful business character to almost the other end of the scale," she said. "What I was earning as a little bit of pocket money suddenly became the be-all-and-end-all… that shift in our relationship probably also marked a shift in his behaviour towards me. "Ruth DodsworthDodsworth says she wants to show people that you can "rebuild" and have a happy life'Bank card disappeared'Dodsworth said money was one of the ways Wignall controlled her.

"It happened sort of slowly but surely," 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. "She said having to ask for money allowed Wignall "to maintain that control" and "kept me isolated".

"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. "She said Wignall would give her cash, after her "bank card disappeared and then that was never replaced".

Analyst Views

What is coercive control? Ruth DodsworthDodsworth said she previously did not know what controlling behaviour was She said he would also turn up at her workplace to "check" what she was doing. "Part of my job is that I'm away filming, I'm on location.

A lot of our crews are male, so I'd have to effectively prove who I was with, show that I was where I said I was, FaceTime him. He would turn up at work just to check. "Her mobile phone, which she had for work, "became a real pinch point for him because he knew that was contact with the outside world".

"I was asleep in the middle of the night one night, woke up and he'd got my thumb on my phone trying to use my thumbprint to open my phone," she said.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.