UK MP Kate Kniveton breaks silence on years of marital abuse: ‘Raped me whereas I slept, kicked me off the bed’
Former UK MP Kate Kniveton has publicly revealed years of bodily, sexual, and emotional abuse by her ex-husband and fellow MP Andrew Griffiths. She alleged he raped her whereas she slept, verbally abused their toddler daughter, and continued to harass her even after their separation.
Kate Kniveton, who served because the Member of Parliament for Burton from 2019 to 2024, has publicly revealed the traumatic abuse she endured throughout her marriage to former MP Andrew Griffiths. In an emotional account shared with UK-based publication Metro, Kniveton alleged that Griffiths sexually assaulted her whereas she slept, screamed at their new child daughter, and repeatedly dismissed her threats to report him, saying, “No person would imagine you.”
Kniveton recalled waking as much as discover Griffiths assaulting her. “Typically I’d simply suppose, ‘let it keep it up,’ however there could be different occasions after I cried,” she mentioned. On such events, she added, he would generally cease, however not all the time. If he did, he could be in a foul temper. “I keep in mind he’d be kicking me till he kicked me off the bed,” she mentioned. She would then barricade herself within the spare room or go away the home altogether.
The breaking level got here when she realised the abuse prolonged to their new child. Kniveton recounted an incident the place Griffiths shouted at their crying two-week-old daughter to “shut the f*** up” as he bought prepared to go away for Westminster. That second, she mentioned, marked a transparent escalation within the hazard they each confronted.
“No person would imagine you, Kate”
Regardless of the abuse, Kniveton mentioned she usually felt trapped and powerless. “Each time I mentioned I used to be going to go to the police, he would say, ‘No person would imagine you. I’m the MP right here. I’ve bought an awesome relationship with the police, all of them suppose I’m the blue-eyed boy,’” she mentioned.
Charming in public, abusive in personal
Kniveton married Griffiths in 2013, they usually separated in 2018. She described him as “personable, charming, and charismatic”, traits that masked the abuse from the surface world. “Folks don’t suppose it may occur to skilled, middle-class folks, however home abuse has no boundaries,” she mentioned.
Now 54, Kniveton mentioned that even after leaving the connection, the abuse didn’t cease. “I’m traumatised, not simply by the ten years of abuse I skilled, however the next 5 years the place he continued to make use of the authorized system to abuse me,” she mentioned, pointing to failures in household courts to guard susceptible ladies and kids.
Household courtroom dominated Griffiths raped and assaulted her
In 2021, a household courtroom choose dominated that Griffiths had raped and repeatedly assaulted Kniveton throughout their marriage. Griffiths, who had beforehand been a ladies’s rights campaigner and chief of employees to future PM Theresa Could, had earlier been faraway from his authorities position after it was revealed he despatched greater than 2,000 sexually express messages to 2 feminine constituents over three weeks.
New documentary sheds mild on systemic failures
Kniveton’s story is now the main focus of an ITV1 and ITVX documentary titled Breaking The Silence: Kate’s Story, which explores her private journey and the broader failures of the household courtroom system in coping with home abuse. The documentary additionally sheds mild on the practically 30,000 household courtroom instances annually within the UK that contain allegations of home abuse.
