I was branded ‘fat whale’ by my abusive mum-of-six ex… then she accused ME

THE victim of a brutally controlling girlfriend has revealed he was forced to eat toothpaste and labelled a “fat whale” by her.

Gareth Jones, 40, was even charged by police for rape after Sarah Rigby falsely accused the former Wales Rugby youth player when he bravely left her.

Sarah, 41, avoided jail after being handed a suspended sentence last month for the abusive behaviour.

The mum-of-six admitted coercive behaviour but avoided jail and was instead handed a 20-month jail term suspended for two years.

Gareth said it was one of the worst cases of coercive control police had seen and he was not Sarah’s first victim.

Two other former partners were set to give evidence against Sarah at trial, but she eventually changed her plea to guilty, the Daily Mail reported.

After Gareth took to the witness box in the trial he received a text message from one of her previous partners.

The text sympathised with how hard it must have been for Gareth to take the stand and said Sarah had abuse him in the same way.

During the abuse, Sarah controlled Gareth’s finances, physically attacked him, and called him a “fat whale”.

He said: “She wanted sex all the time — five, six times a day… Even when I was trying to work [from home] she’d say, ‘No you can’t go on a meeting right now because we need to have sex’.”

When the pair matched on dating site Plenty of Fish in June 2021, Gareth couldn’t believe she showed an interest in him.

He said: “I can now see the red flags were there from the start. If this interview helps even one person recognise the signs and get out of an abusive relationship before it’s too late, I’m happy.

“She looked like a little china doll — a butter-wouldn’t-melt type — but she was evil.”

Gareth had come out of a two-year relationship and hoped that he could find someone to start a family with.

But, instead he found Sarah, who wooed him with a low-cut red dress on the first date and sex after the second.

Gareth said that Sarah “love-bombed” him by saying he would be a good dad to her five children.

But as the relationship went on she started to reveal her true nature, becoming toxic and gaslighting Gareth.

He described one occasion where she pulled out of a trip to Spain only days before.

Soon after she had put him on a diet of only salad and fruit and asked him to have a look at getting a hair transplant.

Sarah continually threatened to go back onto the dating site and find other men to sleep with.

On one trip to London, she made Gareth bleed by digging her nails into his arm after she demanded something expensive.

She told him after that trip that he did love her and he should move in.

If this interview helps even one person recognise the signs and get out of an abusive relationship before it’s too late, I’m happy

Gareth Jones

But the abuse only became worse.

Sarah wouldn’t give Gareth a key and said he could only come and go as she did.

When Gareth said he didn’t like that, Sarah threatened to go the police and falsely tell them he had raped her.

Despite Sarah seeing other men, she demanded sex from Gareth five or six times a day.

If he couldn’t perform she would make him sleep on the floor with no covers as punishment or she would kick him in the ribs at night.

Sarah made Gareth swallow toothpaste after wrongfully claiming he had bad breath, kept control of his £4,000-a-month wages, threw him out of the house in his underwear and checked his mobile phone.

She also forced him to wear a hat outside of the house after convincing him he was going bald.

Gareth’s mother Diane said he began to lose weight and she noticed bruises on his arms from the abuse.

Finally, in 2022, Gareth secretly arranged to meet his mother for coffee and then found the courage to leave the abusive relationship.

When he returned to the house he had to secretly stash his passport down his pants to get past Sarah frisking him at the door.

She looked like a little china doll — a butter-wouldn’t-melt type — but she was evil

Gareth Jones

Gareth made his escape by packing a bag with a laptop and telling her he was going to the library.

But once he left he called the police.

To get revenge Sarah called his work at the NHS and told them Gareth was a rapist.

She also made a complaint to police and Gareth was charged – they were dropped in September of 2022.

Sarah’s abuse made Gareth suicidal and he remains on anti-anxiety medication two year later, but he was not the first of her partners to feel that way.

Once she even showed Gareth a suicide note a previous partner of hers had written.

Gareth said: “After the abuse started, the effect of being constantly belittled and abused made me nervous, feel degraded and worthless.

“My image of myself became distorted and I had low self esteem – I still feel like this to a degree.

“I also feel nervous about telling people what has happened to me due to the stigma behind males not being seen as victims of domestic abuse.

”I think I will always be emotionally scarred by the effects the abuse that I’ve suffered.”

Sarah has also moved on to another man and become pregnant again.