By Tim Lambert
Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She was born on 9 October 1926 in Rhyl, Wales. She was one of six children. When she was 17, Ruth had a son called Andy by a Canadian soldier.
After the Second World War, Ruth was living in London. In the 1940s, Ruth worked in factories but she could not earn enough to support herself and her son. Ruth became a nude model and by 1950, she was an escort. In 1950, she married George Ellis. They had a daughter named Georgina but the couple soon separated. However, by 1953, Ruth had a job as a manager of the Little Club in Knightsbridge, London. It was there that she met David Blakely.
Blakely was a racing driver. He was also a heavy drinker. He moved in with Ruth, even though he was already engaged to another woman. Ruth met another man, Desmond Cussen and she moved in with him. Ruth and David Blakely continued their relationship, although they were both seeing other people. Blakely was abusive.
He asked Ruth to marry him but she had a miscarriage in January 1955 after Blakely punched her in the stomach. Blakely later decided he never wanted to see Ruth again.
On 10 April 1955, Ruth took a taxi to a flat where she knew Blakely was staying. As they arrived, she saw him drive off in his car. She paid the taxi driver and walked to the Magdala Tavern, where she thought he would be. Ruth waited till Blakely emerged from the pub. She drew a revolver from her handbag and as he searched for his car keys, she shot him. Gladys fired six bullets at Blakely. The first shot missed. The second hit him and made him fall to the ground.
She fired three more bullets into him. Her last shot ricocheted off the road and his a bystander in the hand.
An off-duty policeman immediately arrested Ruth. Psychiatrists who examined her found she was not insane. Ruth went on trial on 20 June 1955. There was no doubt that she had shot David Blakely. The prosecution merely had to prove the intent to kill. The prosecution lawyer asked, “When you fired the revolver at close range into the body of David Blakely, what did you intend to do?”. Ruth answered, “It’s obvious when I shot him, I intended to kill him”.
The jury found her guilty of murder and she was sentenced to death. However, many people felt that her sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment. 50,000 people signed a petition, but the Home Secretary refused to grant a reprieve and Ruth Ellis was hanged on 13 July 1955.
The execution of Ruth Ellis is still controversial. In 1955, to plead insanity, a person accused of murder had to prove they did not know the ‘nature and quality’ of their acts. Ruth did not meet that criterion. However, in 1957, the law was changed so that a prisoner could plead that their mental state substantially reduced their responsibility for the crime. If the jury agreed, they would be found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter and would not be executed. Perhaps if that were the law in 1955, Ruth could have pleaded diminished responsibility and would not have been hanged. We will never know.
At first, Ruth Ellis was buried within the prison but in 1971, she was reburied in St Mary’s Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
