Bettmann Archive/Getty ImagesThe grandchildren of the last woman to be hanged in Britain are seeking a posthumous pardon, saying she was physically and emotionally abused by her partner before she killed him.
Nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis, from Rhyl, Denbighshire, was executed on 13 July 1955 after being convicted of murdering her lover David Blakely.
She was hanged at London’s Holloway Prison.
“We are determined to do what we can to right this historic injustice and honour not only Ruth but all victims of domestic abuse who have been let down by the criminal justice system,” said her granddaughter Laura Enston.
Ellis shot Blakely outside The Magdala pub in Hampstead, London, following a tumultuous relationship involving infidelity on both sides.
Ellis had an abortion, which was illegal in the UK at the time, and was physically abused by the racing driver – including being punched in the stomach during an argument that led to her miscarriage.
The British public was already questioning whether capital punishment had a place in 20th Century society and, two years after Ellis’ hanging, legal changes saw diminished responsibility introduced as a defence.
The judge told the jury in her case to disregard the fact that the mother-of-two had been “badly treated by her lover” as a defence.
Ellis’s grandchildren have now applied to justice secretary David Lammy seeking a conditional pardon.
Her family have spent decades fighting for her case to be reconsidered.
“She is a murderer but she didn’t deserve to be taken from the world in the way that she was,” said grandson Stephen Beard.
He has taken part in a new Welsh-language S4C documentary, Ruth Ellis: Y Cariad a’r Crogi [The Lover and the Hanging] – available to watch on iPlayer – which re-examines her case with legal experts.
PA MediaThinking about Ellis’s final moments, granddaughter Ms Enston said: “I can’t begin to imagine what was going on in her head.”
She told the programme her grandmother’s “execution has had a devastating impact on our family”.
“My mother and uncle suffered from trauma from which neither of them were able to recover, and as grandchildren we have felt these ripple effects,” she said.
“The evidence shared with the justice secretary makes clear that the punishment did not fit the crime.”
Under cross-examination, Ellis admitted that she intended to kill Blakely, and the jury took just 20 minutes to convict her of murder – a charge that carried a mandatory death sentence.
Unlike court appeals, pardons can consider broader factors, such as social developments, that may render a conviction or its resulting punishment inappropriate or unfair.
‘Very tormented woman’
Ms Enston said that the case had resulted in Ellis’s children being dogged by mental health problems, describing her mother as “a very tormented woman”, while her uncle took his own life.
Alex Bailin KC, representing Ellis’s family, added: “Thankfully, 70 years after Ruth was hanged, there is now a much better understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on the emotional wellbeing and behaviour of victims.
“Based on the evidence we have reviewed, if Ruth’s case had taken place in modern times, she would have been able to plead a defence of diminished responsibility or loss of control.
“A posthumous conditional pardon for Ruth Ellis would correct a historical wrong and send a clear message to the public that violence against women and girls is never acceptable.”
