'I could no longer stay silent': Lady Victoria Hervey says she finally exposed Isabella's husband as a 'wife-beater' because she didn't have the strength to - as she reveals he punched her sister in hospital just after she had given birth

Lady Victoria Hervey says she exposed her sister Isabella's husband as an alleged wife-beater because her sister no longer had the strength to speak up after years of abuse.

The former It Girl says she could ‘no longer remain silent’ and posted photos of Isabella’s injuries on Instagram after witnessing her sister being 'broken' by the torment at the hands of her husband Christophe De Pauw.

Victoria alleges that during Isabella’s marriage her husband even left her with a fractured skull after punching her while she was in hospital after giving birth to their daughter.

Victoria said that De Pauw had cheated on his wife with a number of women - and had walked out on her and their three children still at marital home in Portugal to live with his latest lover. 

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, socialite Victoria, 47, also claimed that De Pauw was now continuing his 'brutal' behaviour towards her sister following their split this summer by failing to give her enough money for her and their children.

Speaking to MailOnline, Victoria said: 'I have been really fearing for her safety and mental wellbeing. She was feeling that nothing was ever going to improve, and nobody was going to find out what he was really like.

'When I spoke to one of her friends, he said, 'Look Victoria, you have the power to put this out there. I am giving you the go ahead, let's do this.'

'She was just so broken, and so depressed about the whole thing. A lot of it has been mental abuse, making her feel s**t all of the time, as well as physical abuse.'

Victoria last week posted a series of pictures on the Stories of her Instagram account which has 550,000 followers, showing cuts and bruises to the body of Isabella - who won Channel 4 reality sports show The Games in 2004.

The images showed the results of alleged attacks by her husband during her 'nightmare' marriage.

Victoria accompanied the horrific pictures with a series of messages including one saying: 'This story is to give other women the courage to speak out as it took my sister a long time.'

Another message said: 'Christophe de Pauw should be put away. He is a serial abuser. He would cheat on my sister and then punish her for it. It has got to a point that we can no longer stay silent.'

She said: 'My sister also found out there had been an affair before that. He basically thought he could have an affair and go back to my sister, but this time she said she wanted a divorce.'

Isabella who appeared on ITV's Celebrity Love Island in 2005 and was named as the 'face of Playboy UK' in the same year, later came home from a competitive cycling trip after her husband moved out, and found her family home in Portugal stripped of a number of belongings.

Victoria added: 'Cycling competitively is the one thing that has given her something to really feel good about it.

'She was away on a trip, and when she came back, he had emptied half the house. He had just taken a ton of furniture and stuff.

'He is just very jealous of her. He kept her so dependent on him in every way, including financially.

'Christophe always lets them down. He was supposed to take the children at the beginning of this week, and he suddenly said he would be away for a week.

'That evidence has been given to the lawyers.

'It's just brutal what he is doing to her. He is just a horrible human being.

'When he had this affair in the summer, that was it. He moved in with this new girl and her three kids within a month They all live in Portugal, not far from each other.'

Victoria, who appeared in Channel 4 ski show The Jump in 2015, said the abuse by Isabella's husband 'escalated really badly' in March 2019 after their third child India was born, and he punched her in hospital following the birth.

Isabella reported the assault to police, and he was given an official caution, she added.

She said: 'He kept her very isolated from us. We didn't know what was going on so we couldn't help her. She has three small children and he threatened her, saying she would never see the kids again.

'She had her own issues years ago and was struggling with being bulimic. She has been over that for a long time. But he would trigger it because he wanted to make out that she was an unfit mother. He would play these horrible mind games on her.

'That is why her cycling has really saved her. I don't think she would even be alive without that.

'He is a bully and he just made her feel like nobody would ever listen to her, and she was the bad one and everything was her fault.

'People in these situations don't call for help for a long time. He would take her phone from her, and I wouldn't be able to reach her for week. He totally controlled her and took her passport.

'In her words, she said she was basically held hostage. She couldn't cry for help. It's been on and off through the marriage. He went berserk when she filed that police report on him.

'There was a terrible incident that happened this year when she was concussed and had to go in an ambulance. The housekeeper witnessed it, but didn't stand up for her as she works for him.

'The kids are messed up and her two boys think it's normal to hit as daddy does.

Victoria said her sister finally opened up to her family about the abuse after filing her police report while living in Brussels in 2019.

She added: 'They moved to Portugal about three years ago for a fresh start. Things were better for a while with them being in a new environment, and then it got bad again.'

Talking of her decision to go public, she added: 'His family is terrified of the press, and I warned him a while ago, that if he did this any more, I would go to the press, and he blocked me on WhatsApp

'My sister was so stressed when I was putting those pictures on social media. She was saying, 'I don't want to see it. Just do it'.

'I have had hundreds of really nice messages, including quite a lot from people who have been in the same situation as her. I have sent her screenshots.

'She sounds better. She sees light at the end of the tunnel now. She just wants a fair settlement with him, but he is trying to give her nothing.'

Victoria and Isabella's family lost their ancestral seat, Ickworth in Suffolk, due to the self-destructive behaviour of their elder half-brother, John, the 7th marquess, who died aged 44, effectively penniless after he squandered £35million on helicopters, classic cars, drugs and high living.

The 8th Marquess of Bristol is the sisters' 44-year-old brother Frederick.

Mr de Pauw has been approached for comment.

Victims of domestic abuse can contact the charity Refuge on its 24/7 helpline by calling 0808 2000 247. Alternative, click here. Those in an emergency situation should call 999.