This Is The Last Woman Hanged In Britain

On July 13, 1955, famed British hangman Albert Pierrepoint slipped the noose around the neck of Ruth Ellis. The execution took just 12 seconds, but her body hung for an hour. Ellis’ execution marked the last time a woman was executed for murder in Britain. Her trial and execution gained national attention, not just because of her gender, but due to her unusual behavior throughout the ordeal. To observers, it seemed as if Ellis had a death wish, and she made no attempt to defend the slaying of David Blakely.

Early Life

Ellis was born Ruth Nielsen in Rhyl, Wales on October 9, 1926, and reportedly suffered abuse and attempted rape at the hands of her father. She left school at 14 and worked as a waitress before her family moved to London in 1941. Three years later, Ruth became pregnant with the child of a Canadian soldier who abandoned her soon afterward.

By 1950, she worked as a hostess in nightclubs and took up prostitution. Ellis became pregnant with the child of a customer and had an abortion (illegal at the time) before going back to work as soon as possible. In November 1950, she married George Ellis; he was a violent and jealous alcoholic who beat Ruth often. She had a child by George in 1951, but he too abandoned her and the baby.

In 1953, Ellis became manager of the Little Club and fell for the man that would define her life, David Blakely. He was from a wealthy family, and he moved in with her even though he was engaged to another woman. It became an open relationship, and a violent one too. Blakely beat Ellis often, and in early 1955, he punched her in the stomach and caused a miscarriage.

This Is The Last Woman Hanged In Britain — Blakely and Ellis. BBC

Cold-Blooded Murder

Blakely was good friends with the Findlater family; they despised Ellis because they thought she was ‘common.’ Over Easter Weekend 1955, Blakely was building a race car with Art Findlater, and he refused to see Ellis as he was fed up with her constant desperate phone calls. She wrongly believed he was having an affair, although he had seen other women during their relationship. Ellis was not blameless either; she had an affair with Desmond Cullen, and on the evening of April 10, 1955, she persuaded him to drive her to Hampstead where she waited for her other lover.

Blakely emerged at 9:30 pm with his friend Clive Gunnell and ignored Ellis as she called out to him. She pulled out a Smith & Wesson and shot him before following him to his car and shooting him a second time. Blakely collapsed on the ground and Ellis emptied the remaining four bullets into him. One of the bullets was fired so close to the victim’s back that it left powder burns on his skin.

Various people emerged from the pubs in the surrounding area, and an off-duty policeman arrested Ellis. She made no attempt to escape and appeared calm and relaxed when detained in Hampstead police station. Immediately after the shooting, she apparently asked Gunnell to call the police.

Trial & Execution

Ellis had no legal representation at the police station or at the special hearing at Hampstead Magistrates Court on April 11. Her calmness was striking; her guilt wasn’t in doubt, nor was the fact that the murder was cold and calculating. At the police station after the killing, she said: “When I put the gun in my bag, I intended to find David and shoot him.” At the Magistrates Court, she said: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I will hang.”

As she awaited trial, the prison guards noted that she was quiet and cooperative, and acted as if she was attending a tea party rather than sitting in a penitentiary. While in jail, her black hair roots started to show and, against her lawyer’s advice, she dyed it platinum blonde again. He was concerned that having such a striking appearance would turn the jury against her.

The trial took place at London’s Old Bailey on June 20, 1955. It was an open and shut case; not least because Ellis admitted her guilt. When asked what she intended to do when she shot Blakely at close range, she replied: “It’s obvious when I shot him that I intended to kill him.” The jury deliberated for just 20 minutes before delivering a guilty verdict. Unlike in the United States, there was no ‘degree’ of murder so, in those days, an individual convicted of murder received a death sentence.

Execution & Aftermath

Ellis drank a bit of brandy on the morning of her execution, July 13, 1955. She was condemned to hang at 9 a.m., and as always, hangman Albert Pierrepoint completed his duties with no trouble. When the body was taken down at 10 a.m., an autopsy was conducted, and it confirmed that the 28-year-old died almost immediately.

Attempts at a posthumous pardon were rejected, but the question remains: Did Ruth Ellis deserve to die? There is no doubt that she murdered David Blakely in cold blood, but the modern-day justice system might have seen things a little differently (even allowing for the abolition of the death penalty in the UK). Although Ellis was deemed ‘legally sane’ in a prison examination, it seems certain that she suffered from post-traumatic stress. Remember, Ellis was abused throughout her life, and the brutality she suffered at the hands of David Blakely was probably the final straw.

Ellis didn’t help her cause; in fact, she seemed determined to die. At no stage did she present herself as a victim, she admitted her guilt and showed a calm, almost cold exterior that made it impossible to feel sympathy for her. Her behavior in prison was especially odd; it was almost as if she had no idea what was happening. As for her execution, Pierrepoint remarked: “I have seen some brave men die, but nobody braver than her.”

If she committed the crime today, Ellis likely wouldn’t receive a life sentence because ‘diminished responsibility’ would be a plausible defense in her case. International pressure placed on Britain, along with a petition in the UK, led to the suspension of the death penalty in 1965 and its abolition in 1969.