ITV weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth makes 'galling' discovery after abusive ex-husband's prison release

Dodsworth has been open about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband Jonathan Wignall, 57, who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2021 for coercive control and stalking. The ITV Wales weather presenter, 49, has now told the Daily Mail that she has found out that Wignall has set up online profiles for modelling and acting jobs online since being released from prison.

Dodsworth, who is now a domestic abuse campaigner, told the newspaper:  "I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Are no background checks done? What about due diligence? A cursory Google of his name would have revealed that my ex-husband was a dangerous man just out of prison.

"Helicopters and golf? I’d love to be able to reinvent my life like that, too! Unfortunately, I cannot because I’m just trying to get through each day. Yes, my ex-husband is free to move on with his life after leaving prison. It’s right that he should and he is doing nothing illegal. But reinventing himself as some sort of glamorous role model?

"Something sticks in the throat here. It sends a terrible message and reinforces what I’ve always said – this is a man with no remorse, who still doesn’t feel he has done anything wrong. For me, the sense of entitlement that he can just carry on is... galling, to say the least."

The newspaper reported that Dodsworth was not aware of any acting or modelling work that he had done previously, adding: “I realise people will say 'but he has served his time' and should be free to do whatever he wants, but for him to present himself to the world as a playboy model... I’m sorry, this is so unfair."

She previously spoke about the terrifying behaviour she was subjected to behind closed doors at the hand of her husband of 17 years, which included calling her 150 times the days she left him and installing a tracker device on her car. She also said that he has “controlled all the finances”, saying: "He took every penny I earned. If I wanted money for lunch, he’d give me £3 for a Tesco meal deal. I covered it up at work. I was embarrassed, ashamed."

If you have been affected by the details of this story, you can confidentially speak to someone at domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, which runs a Live Chat service between 8am-6pm weekdays and 10am-6pm on weekends, along with other online services and the UK Domestic Abuse Directory for your local domestic abuse service at www.womensaid.org.uk. Other services include The National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247, The Men’s Advice Line, for male domestic abuse survivors on 0808 801 0327, and The National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0800 999 5428.