In the glamorous, smoky underworld of 1950s London, Ruth Ellis was a platinum-blonde trailblazer: a young, ambitious nightclub manager who quickly became the star of her own complicated life. But her world of glitz and aspiration was violently shattered by a toxic, abusive affair with wealthy racing driver David Blakely.
On Easter Sunday, 1955, Ruth stalked Blakely to a Hampstead pub and shot him. Her immediate, chilling confession—"It is obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him"—sealed her fate. Ruth was the last woman to be hanged in the UK, and it sparked much controversy as her severe abuse at the hands of David Blakley was not thoroughly taken into account. Now, 70 years later, her grandchildren have applied to have her posthumously conditionally pardoned for her crimes. While it will not completely quash her record as she had admitted to killing David, it will show that her being hanged was a gross miscarriage of justice.
Sources
Mishcon De Reya (2025)
Luxury London (2025)
The Guardian (2025)
Wikapedia
Real Crime YouTube- The Last Woman to be Executed in Britain (2022)
BBC (2025)
Audio
This Morning YouTube- "I'm Finally Proud to be Ruth Ellis' Grandaughter (2025)
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