UK posthumous pardon for Ruth Ellis, last woman executed in 1955
Consensus Summary
Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the UK in 1955 at the age of 28, has been granted a posthumous conditional pardon by King Charles after decades of campaigning by her family. Both ABC and the Guardian report that Ellis was executed for shooting her abusive partner, David Blakely, whom she met two years earlier. Ellis was a single mother of two children, aged three and 10, and her execution provoked public outcry, contributing to the eventual abolition of the death penalty for murder in 1969. The pardon acknowledges that Ellis was a victim of sustained domestic abuse, including physical violence and coercive control, which was not considered during her trial. ABC notes that her case inspired the 1985 film *Dance with a Stranger* and that her children suffered lifelong trauma, while the Guardian emphasizes that legal defences like diminished responsibility, introduced in 1957, could have altered her conviction if applied today. The pardon does not erase the past but formally recognizes the justice system’s failure, bringing some closure to Ellis’s family after 71 years.
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Key details reported by multiple sources:
- Ruth Ellis was executed in 1955
- Ruth Ellis was aged 28 at the time of her execution
- Ruth Ellis was the last woman executed in the UK
- Ruth Ellis was pardoned 71 years ago (1955)
- Ruth Ellis shot and killed her partner, David Blakely
- Ruth Ellis had two children aged three and 10 at the time of her execution
- Ruth Ellis was a single mother of two children
- Ruth Ellis was hanged in July 1955
- Ruth Ellis’s pardon was granted by King Charles on the advice of Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy
- The pardon was granted due to evidence of domestic abuse and coercive control
- Ruth Ellis met David Blakely two years before her execution
- The death penalty was permanently abolished for murder in the UK in 1969
Points of Difference
Details reported by only one source:
- Ruth Ellis was a nightclub hostess
- Ruth Ellis was hanged outside a London pub
- The jury took 14 minutes to find her guilty
- Ruth Ellis showed no emotion during her trial
- Ruth Ellis’s case was turned into the 1985 film *Dance with a Stranger*
- Ruth Ellis suffered a miscarriage 10 days before the killing in April 1955 after being punched in the stomach
- The law was changed two years after her execution to allow a defence of diminished responsibility
- Ruth Ellis’s grandchildren made an application for the pardon last year
- Ruth Ellis managed the nightclub where she met Blakely
- The pardon reflects the possibility of partial defences of loss of control or diminished responsibility today
- The judge told the jury to disregard the fact she had been 'badly treated by her lover' as a defence
- Defences such as diminished responsibility and loss of control only became part of the law in 1957
- Ruth Ellis was portrayed as a 'cold-blooded killer'
- Blakely physically and emotionally abused her, including incidents like pushing her down stairs and striking her so hard she was briefly deaf
- Ruth Ellis’s uncle took his own life due to trauma from her execution
- Ruth Ellis’s mother was unable to be the parent her grandchildren needed due to trauma
Contradictions
Conflicting information between sources:
- The Guardian states the pardon was granted 70 years ago, but ABC states it was granted 71 years ago
- ABC states the death penalty was abolished in 1969, but does not mention 1957 as a key year for legal changes, while the Guardian highlights 1957 as when diminished responsibility became part of the law
Source Articles
'Profound injustice': Last woman executed in UK pardoned by King
The case of Ruth Ellis has gripped Britain for decades and inspired the 1985 film Dance with a Stranger.
Ruth Ellis, last woman hanged in UK, granted posthumous conditional pardon
Ellis, 28, was executed in 1955 after fatally shooting her abusive partner David Blakely UK politics live – latest updates Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, has been granted a conditional pardon in light of evidence that she was a victim of domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour. Ellis was executed in 1955, aged 28, after she shot and killed her partner, David Blakely, whom she met two years earlier while working in the nightclub she managed. Continue reading...