Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom, has been granted a posthumous conditional pardon, 71 years after her execution. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced the pardon, stating that it "replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment to recognize a profound injustice in this exceptional case."
Ellis, a 28-year-old single mother and nightclub hostess, was hanged on July 13, 1955, for the murder of her lover, David Blakely. She shot him outside the Magdala pub in London on April 10, 1955. At the time of her trial, evidence of the abuse she suffered at Blakely's hands was not properly considered. The jury was instructed to disregard her mistreatment, and the judge told them to ignore the fact she had been "badly treated by her lover" as a defense.
The conditional pardon acknowledges that, had the case been heard today, defenses such as loss of control or diminished responsibility might have been presented to a jury. These defenses could have potentially reduced her conviction from murder to manslaughter.
Ellis's grandchildren campaigned for the pardon, highlighting the severe abuse she endured and the likely "battered woman syndrome." Her granddaughter, Laura Enston, stated, "This pardon does not undo what happened 71 years ago. It does not restore the lives that were broken... But it says, formally and finally, that Ruth should not have been executed; that the justice system failed her."
The case of Ruth Ellis remains a significant point of cultural and historical interest, inspiring films and TV series. Her execution in 1955 was a catalyst for public outcry and played a role in the suspension and eventual abolition of the death penalty in Britain. The death penalty was suspended in 1965 and abolished in 1970.
The granting of this conditional pardon serves as a recognition of the historical injustice in Ellis's case and acknowledges the progress in understanding domestic abuse and its impact on the justice system.