‘I dated a serial killer – I’ll never forget the last time I saw him’-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro

Kathy’s life changed forever when she met Stephen Griffiths (Picture: Gareth Prescott)

‘It never entered my head that I couldn’t trust him… I didn’t realise that until just now.’

In 2001, Kathy’s life changed forever when she met the man she believed was her perfect match.

Little did she know that Stephen Griffiths would go on to become one of Britain’s most infamous serial killers.

Bravely sharing her story for the first time, Kathy appears in Serial Killer Wives. This six-part true crime series recounts the testimonies of individuals who unwillingly set up home with the world’s most notorious criminals.

Kathy, a former nightclub queen and prison officer, entered a relationship with the man who later branded himself the ‘Crossbow Cannibal’ over 20 years ago.

Griffiths, from Bradford, murdered three women between 2009 and 2010. They were 43-year-old Susan Rushworth, who disappeared on June 22, 2009, followed by 31-year-old Shelley Armitage on April 26, 2010, and 36-year-old Suzanne Blamires on May 21 of the same year. 

The pair enjoyed a whirlwind romance in the early 2000s – but it didn’t take long for Griffiths to start controlling Kathy (Picture: Channel 5)

Police finally captured the monstrous killer due to CCTV footage of him shooting Blamires in the head inside his block of flats. It later emerged that he dismembered and disposed of his victims’ bodies.

Griffiths also confessed to ‘eating’ some of their body parts, describing that as ‘part of the magic’.

While his crimes were – and still are – deeply disturbing, Griffiths was exhibiting alarming behaviour patterns long before the murders, with Kathy as his punching bag.

On the receiving end of his manipulation and violence amid a whirlwind romance, Kathy was increasingly controlled and coerced. Griffiths spiked her tea, abducted her dogs, locked her up, and beat her.  

Eventually, she was able to get away, but it wasn’t until several years later that the truth about her ex came to light as police knocked at her door and revealed the extent of his evil streak.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Kathy admits that the ordeal now feels like ‘a lifetime ago’, as she often forgets how severely she has been affected.

Acknowledging that she still has ‘scars’ from what she went through, Kathy recalls her confusion over the man she once loved.

He became one of Britain’s most notorious criminals (Picture: Channel 5)

‘The Kathy I knew has now disappeared. It’s confusing for me. Some of the things he said to me were true, some weren’t. Some were exaggerated, some weren’t. I now don’t trust my own judgement. I question myself constantly.

‘I feel like I’m on a merry-go-round. I’m not an idiot, but I don’t have the tools to stop this thing from spinning. I cannot stop the cycle of self-criticism. Before him, I believed my own thought process. Now, that’s gone.’

Kathy hailed Stephen as ‘the smartest person [she] had ever met’ upon their initial interactions. She was intrigued by their in-depth conversations and attracted to his intelligence, as well as his looks.

Within a mere two weeks, though, she became ‘broken.’

‘I had no fight left. I only existed in that one moment. It’s shocking to think how much I disappeared because of him, as he was very passive in his control and it completely blindsided me.’

Griffiths exerted control over Kathy very subtly and portrayed himself as submissive in subliminal ways, like wearing glasses instead of contacts. He ostracised her from her loved ones and switched back and forth from being affectionate to dishing out ‘punishments.’

Kathy – who miscarried a pregnancy two months into their relationship, to her relief – became a ‘prisoner’ in her own home, yet she still ‘believed everything [Griffiths] did.’

Kathy is still dealing with emotional scars (Picture: Gareth Prescott)

While her loved ones were imploring Kathy to leave, she never questioned whether or not he cared for her, despite him not allowing her to have any autonomy over her own life. As she says, she ‘relinquished control.’

The last time Kathy saw Griffiths is a moment etched into her memory forever.

‘I can remember the last time I saw him. I went away to Turkey but by the time I got home, I had let go of any emotion towards him. I was done.

‘He came round and I opened my front door and he stood there. I looked straight at him, slammed the door in his face, and locked it. He was banging on the window and he eventually left.

‘I had won. I’m not scared of the man at all.’

In a further bid to prove she had come out on top and in an astonishing turn of events, Kathy attended Griffiths’ final court date, desperate to look him in the eye. Unfortunately for her, though, he never glanced up to where she was sitting.

Kathy notes that everything Griffiths did was a case of ‘bravado.’ From refusing to divulge full details of where his victims’ bodies had been dumped to obnoxiously declaring himself ‘the Crossbow Cannibal’ before pleading guilty in front of a Judge, he sought an ego boost in everything he did.

She never thought he would be capable of murder (Picture: Channel 5)

In 2010, Griffiths was sentenced to life behind bars (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

Shockingly, he even boasted about murdering Blamires mere seconds after taking her life, sticking his middle finger up to the camera inside his building after realising he had been caught, before dragging the poor woman back inside.

As of 2010, Griffiths is spending life behind bars with no chance of parole, so while justice has been served legally, it’s taken Kathy a long time to overcome the ‘guilt’ she felt over potentially being able to stop him.

However, she understands it’s ‘not so simple to just walk away’, especially when she did previously try to silently beg for help with her eyes as police checked up on her, but to no avail, as Griffiths tightly squeezed her hand from the doorway.

‘I genuinely did not think he’d take the leap to take a life,’ Kathy states.

On how she managed to deal with this survivor’s guilt, Kathy adds: ‘I know now it wasn’t in my hands.’

She has also paid her respects to the three victims in her own special way, having gone paragliding and scattering three white roses into the ocean in their memory, saying a few words.

After hitting 50, she realised that she still had a lot of heavy trauma to unpack, having buried it for so long. She’s since been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet hasn’t found it easy seeking support.

Susan Rushworth, 43, disappeared on June 22, 2009 (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

31-year-old Shelley Armitage went missing on April 26, 2010 (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

36-year-old Suzanne Blamires died on May 21 of the same year (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

‘You never know who to speak to, but it’s a fight I’m determined to win. You just have to carry on, living day to day.’

Kathy has a great passion for dance, which she pours her energy into in her spare time, as it allows her to rediscover her former self and ‘let go’.

Alas, she remains unhappy with how police conducted the investigation into her ex-partner, declaring that they ‘could’ve done more’.

So, what would she say to Griffiths now if she had the chance? Well, Kathy doesn’t wish to waste her breath…

‘I’ve got nothing to say to him. I used to think I did, or that I wanted to hear what he had to say for himself, but with how my mental health works, he could probably get into my head.

‘He’ll just let the victims’ families, and me, become twisted emotionally until he dies, maintaining that control until the end.’

Watch Serial Killer Wives, a six-part true crime series, Tuesdays at 9pm on 5Star and My5.

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