ITV presenter Ruth Dodsworth has opened up about the relationship with her abusive ex-husband saying “the signs were there.”

Speaking with Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday, the weather presenter said it started as a “loving and romantic relationship” before the abuse escalated.

Wignall, 54, was jailed for three years and given a restraining order last month following a nine-year campaign of controlling behaviour, harassment and stalking his wife during their marriage.

Victoria Derbyshire, who is sitting in for Jeremy Vine asked: “So when you look back what do you see were the signs that you didn’t notice when you were in the middle of it?”

Ruth said: “Thinking about it, it was a temper that was there from day one and to start with it was never directed at me.

“I’d see him speak to work colleagues, I saw him lose his temper with family members and it was over what I would consider to be really trivial things, money, just anything that would set him off anything that annoyed him.

“At first that was taken out on other people and then very quickly as you form that bond between the two of you and you do become the closest person in their world, you’re on hand, you’re close by and that temper very quickly turns on you.”

Border Counties Advertizer: Jonathan Wignall, the ex-husband of Ruth Dodsworth. (South Wales Police)Jonathan Wignall, the ex-husband of Ruth Dodsworth. (South Wales Police)

She added: “Looking back, that’s exactly what happened, a little bit of jealousy, a little bit of ‘you’re my wife’ at the start is almost quite flattering, it’s quite nice but actually that then escalates into something rather more sinister and with us that happened very, very quickly and the thing is, at the time I just didn’t see it.

“At its worse which I would say was probably over the past ten years or so from the controlling to keeping an eye on me.

“He would follow me around the house, follow me to the bathroom, to the show, took hundreds and hundreds of photos of me.

“Most of which I wasn’t aware of, some I would notice, brushing my teeth and I’d say to him ‘why do you want a photograph of me brushing my teeth?’

“’Because you’re my wife’ would always be his reply.

“Going to work, going anywhere outside of the home would be hundreds and hundreds of phone calls at its worse, constantly asking who I am with.

“If it was a male, he didn’t like that, any male was a threat to him. If I was at work, out filming for example I would make sure he had every last detail so that he knew where I was and that I wasn’t doing anything I shouldn’t be and knew who I was with.”

Ruth went on to described the horrific physical aspects of the abuse as her ex-husband’s drinking escalated, often in front of their children.

She said: “That became really frightening, the more verbally abusive he got, the more physical behind closed doors often in front of the children but not in front of other people.

“He would lose his temper, he would square up to me, he would spit in my face, he would grab me by the throat and pin me against the wall, he pushed me and I fractured a rib and that all escalated within the last ten year and it was just terrifying.”

The mother-of-two then describes a time when her then husband tried to use her thumb to unlock her phone while she was asleep.

“He had got my mobile phone and like anyone else who has a mobile phone it has touch identity and he had got my thumb over the id lock on the phone. He tried to pay my children to get into my phone.

“For him my phone was a constant source of contact with other people and in his mind I was having conversations with people and shouldn’t and that couldn’t be further from the truth but to him it was a constant threat and something that he couldn’t handle.”

Border Counties Advertizer: Ruth Dodsworth. (BAFTA Cymru)Ruth Dodsworth. (BAFTA Cymru)

Last month, speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Ms Dodsworth said the details of the case becoming public had been “the best thing in hindsight that’s ever happened” and urged others in the same situation to ask for help.

“As hard as it is, just ask. Because I look back now and wish I’d done so sooner.

“I would not be here, I wouldn’t be alive if I hadn’t asked for help.”

She added: “Not being believed was something I was really frightened of. But I was believed, and I would say to anybody, you will be believed too.”