TV presenter urges domestic abuse victims to take part in survey

The broadcaster suffered a campaign of harassment and stalking during her 18-year marriage to Jonathan Wignall which saw her controlled financially, isolated from friends and family and “living in constant fear”.

Her ex-husband was jailed for three years in April last year and given a restraining order against contacting Ruth after pleading guilty to one count of coercive and controlling behaviour and stalking.

She is now using her experiences to help police improve the way they handle abuse cases and is encouraging victims of domestic abuse and all crime to share their views in the survey.

The online poll has been launched by North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin as part of a major review of the services provided to victims of crime.

Before his election, the crime commissioner pledged to establish a new victims’ panel to give survivors a greater voice on the care and services they receive during their journey to justice.

It’s also a key priority in Mr Dunbobbin’s Police and Crime Plan which provides a blueprint for North Wales Police to follow.

The survey is now live, and victims have until February 28, to complete it online at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VNA_survey22

Journalist and former radio researcher Ruth said: “It’s important we speak up – we have a voice and we need to use that to help others. If our experience can help just one other person to recognise or have the courage to come forward then everything is worthwhile."

"We cannot change what’s happened in the past but we can change what happens in the future using our voice as a way of challenging things for the better. That’s a very powerful thing.”

The 46-year-old married Wignall in 2002, a year after they met. His controlling behaviour increased over time but it is only now, in hindsight, she says she can recognise that the warning signs were already there.

“It was every single trait of coercive and controlling behaviour – it ticked all the boxes. I had no money. I had a lunch money allowance because he felt that if I had access to money I could go out and have affairs.

"You cannot go out. You have to have your hair a certain way and you can’t talk to certain people. I wasn’t allowed to talk to friends of his that he felt were a threat.

“I spent most of my life walking on eggshells. You live in constant fear because you don’t know when the next argument is going to happen. More often than not it was physical."

Ruth continues to support police, alongside her daughter Grace, as part of their police training programme to help officers recognise signs of emotional or physical abuse.

“An abusive relationship is not like going into a typical crime scene – there might not be a body on the floor. It’s reading between the lines,” she said.

“When police officers came to my house they read between the lines and realised this was more than a simple argument.

“If those two officers had just walked away and told him to sort himself out, he would’ve killed me. Their actions saved my life."