ITV Wales presenter Ruth Dodsworth has said going public about her husband's abusive behaviour is "the best thing", as it has given her a platform to help others speak out.

Ruth Dodsworth's husband Jonathan Wignall, 54, was last week sentenced to three years for coercive and controlling behaviour and stalking.

She said speaking out saved her life.

On ITV's This Morning Ms Dodsworth said her story becoming public was "something [she] never saw coming" but the details of her case and victim statement came out as her husband was sentenced.

"In a sense it has been the hardest time but - because that decision to go public was always taken away from me - it's been the best thing in hindsight that has ever happened," she said.

Ms Dodsworth suffered physical and mental abuse from her husband of 18 years, including a fractured rib, paying her children to look on her phone and showing up at her place of work, which she said escalated when his nightclub business failed.

At the peak of the abuse her children called her, warning her not to return to their Cowbridge home. Ms Dodsworth described this as "a turning point".

"I didn't go home that night because I think if I had I wouldn't be here now in any way shape or form," she said.

"I was married to this man for 18 years and I think sometimes, within a marriage, at first you try to make it work, you think, 'OK, that's happened' and try to move on. And you make excuses to try to reason, you try to justify, you plaster this smile on your face."

She said that her job made it harder to speak out because "there is this expectation that you smile and you're happy and sometimes that couldn't have been further from the truth", but it also made her "more determined to make it work".

Wignall was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday 14 April, after he'd previously pleaded guilty to one count of coercive and controlling behaviour and stalking.

He was also given a restraining order against contacting Ms Dodsworth.

The court heard Wignall controlled various aspects of his wife's life; hounding her with calls and unannounced visits at work, refusing to let her go places without him, accompanying her to GP visits and after she found the courage to leave him, placing a tracking device on her car.

He also accessed her phone with her fingerprint as she slept and repeatedly accused her of being unfaithful.

Wignall also controlled the family's finances, keeping his wife in the dark about the huge debts he was running up, which subsequently led to her being evicted from the family home following his arrest.

When he was arrested in December 2019, Wignall responded: "Harassment? But she's my wife."

Speaking on national television this morning, Ms Dodsworth said the abuse she suffered "was degrading, dehumanising and it is so very difficult to ask for help" but she wished she had done it sooner.

"My case is just once of so many and I am so lucky to have been given this platform and to use this public arena.

"Not being believed is something I really did fear but I was believed - and I would say to anyone that you will too."

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic abuse, visit Live Fear Free for help and advice or call the helpline on 0808 80 10 800.