‘Sometimes I’d just think let it carry on’: UK politician’s wife exposes decade of alleged abuse ex-husband | World News

Kate Kniveton, a former Conservative MP, has spoken publicly about the decade of abuse she says she suffered from her ex-husband, fellow Tory politician Andrew Griffiths. In interviews and a new ITV documentary, Breaking The Silence: Kate’s Story, Kniveton describes how Griffiths raped her while she was asleep and verbally abused their newborn child.
Speaking to the Mirror, she said, “It would start when I was asleep I’d wake up and he would have started having sex with me.”
She added, “Sometimes I’d just think ‘let it carry on’. Other times I would cry, and sometimes he’d stop. But not always.”
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Kniveton, 54, said she decided to speak out to raise awareness about domestic abuse and how the family court system can fail survivors. “People don’t think it can happen to professional, middle-class people,” she said. “But domestic abuse has no boundaries.”
Griffiths, who campaigned for women’s rights while in office, resigned in 2018 after being caught sending explicit messages to two women. Kniveton left the family home soon after and later stood for Parliament, defeating Griffiths at the ballot box in 2019.
Griffiths, who campaigned for women’s rights while in office, resigned in 2018 after being caught sending explicit messages to two women. (Photo/X/@gemmagould)
In 2021, a family court judge found that Griffiths had raped and physically abused Kniveton and used controlling behaviour throughout their relationship. At the final hearing in January 2024, Griffiths accepted all findings of abuse except for the allegation of rape. He has continued to deny raping his ex-wife.
Kniveton said the abuse continued even after the relationship ended, through drawn-out legal battles over access to their child. “I am traumatised – not just the 10 years of abuse I experienced – but the five years after, where he continued to use the legal system to abuse me,” she said, according to the Metro.

Last night’s documentary on Kate Kniveton’s case powerfully exposed what survivors, advocates, and children have been saying for years: the family court system is broken—and dangerous.
It showed, in real time, how protective mothers are disbelieved, abuse is minimised, and… pic.twitter.com/XwfQjUBDfs
— Dr Charlotte Proudman (@DrProudman) July 21, 2025
She also described an incident involving their newborn child. “Our ba started crying for a feed. He turned around and said, ‘Shut the F**up.’ It was said with such aggression. That’s when I realised the abuse may not stop with me.”Story continues below this ad
Kniveton has raised concerns about the family court system in the UK, which she says often fails to protect children. A recent report from Women’s Aid found that 67 children have been killed in the past 30 years during court-ordered contact with a parent known to be abusive.
The Minry of Justice responded to the documentary saying it was working to improve family courts and had launched a pilot programme to address private law cases. In a statement to ITV, Griffiths said, “I have always denied the allegations. The Family Court has a lower burden of proof. I will never stop fighting to be a father to my child.”