Ruth Ellis: the last woman to be hanged in Britain

[Steve_uk]

The story of Ruth Ellis, who was hanged on this day 69 years ago today. https://youtu.be/WNH5daSX6wg

[RodCrosby]

Sad, but she was correctly treated by the Law in 1955. There could have been no other verdict. She admitted murder in open court, such that her own barrister realised he could not address the Jury on her behalf... The Court of Appeal vehemently dismissed her posthumous "appeal" in 2003.

Whether or not she should have been hanged is another matter. The tragic aftermath for her son especially, and possibly her sister and ex-husband, was something I'm sure the Law did not contemplate...

The problem with the death penalty in the UK was that the final say rested with a politician - the Home Secretary. Only about 50% of men sentenced got to meet Pierrepoint, and only about 13% of women.

Ruth Ellis's timing was poor, coming just after an election in which the Tories had won specifically on a platform of "law'n'order", and she was also unfortunate to have slightly injured a passer-by with a stray bullet - supposedly the clincher in Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George's refusal to commute Ruth's sentence. The government could also not be seen to bow to public petitions...


As Pierrepoint himself admitted - when he turned against the Death Penalty:-

"Of course, NOBODY wanted it for EVERYONE, but NOBODY could agree on WHO should GET OFF..."

I urge everyone to watch the amazing "Lady Killers" episode from 1980, starring the late, great Georgina Hale (who died earlier this year, aged 80)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh46SukWHSs

[Steve_uk]

Sad, but she was correctly treated by the Law in 1955. There could have been no other verdict. She admitted murder in open court, such that her own barrister realised he could not address the Jury on her behalf... The Court of Appeal vehemently dismissed her posthumous "appeal" in 2003.

Whether or not she should have been hanged is another matter. The tragic aftermath for her son especially, and possibly her sister and ex-husband, was something I'm sure the Law did not contemplate...

The problem with the death penalty in the UK was that the final say rested with a politician - the Home Secretary. Only about 50% of men sentenced got to meet Pierrepoint, and only about 13% of women.

Ruth Ellis's timing was poor, coming just after an election in which the Tories had won specifically on a platform of "law'n'order", and she was also unfortunate to have slightly injured a passer-by with a stray bullet - supposedly the clincher in Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George's refusal to commute Ruth's sentence. The government could also not be seen to bow to public petitions...


As Pierrepoint himself admitted - when he turned against the Death Penalty:-

"Of course, NOBODY wanted it for EVERYONE, but NOBODY could agree on WHO should GET OFF..."

I urge everyone to watch the amazing "Lady Killers" episode from 1980, starring the late, great Georgina Hale (who died earlier this year, aged 80)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh46SukWHSs

There was also a film made: Dance With A Stranger.

[Steve_uk]

There was also a film made: Dance With A Stranger.

Worth watching for the 1950s Zeitgeist, though the subject matter is mainly sordid. https://ok.ru/video/5265356294734

[Cambridgecutie]

Worth watching for the 1950s Zeitgeist, though the subject matter is mainly sordid. https://ok.ru/video/5265356294734

Thanks Steve.  I watched part of it yesterday evening.  Didn't find it particularly sordid by today's standards.  (I'm thinking of the current case in France).  Anyway I have never really understood:

- why RE killed Blakely? 
- why there was such an outcry about her being hanged when that was the punishment at the time and there was never any doubt about the conviction?

[Steve_uk]

Thanks Steve.  I watched part of it yesterday evening.  Didn't find it particularly sordid by today's standards.  (I'm thinking of the current case in France).  Anyway I have never really understood:

- why RE killed Blakely? 
- why there was such an outcry about her being hanged when that was the punishment at the time and there was never any doubt about the conviction?

She was unhinged, uncontrollable. I think she wanted marriage and the security which went with it. It was the 1950s, when family values were trumpeted, men still held open doors for women, they were respected and not thought of as murderers. The Church still held sway, and remember the crime was committed on the holiest day of the year for Christians.

London always was a step apart from the rest of the country. But Ellis rejected the Defence strategy of playing on domestic violence, the possibility that Blakely had caused her miscarriage, insisting on making herself up in the dock. One can imagine what a 1950s jury made of that.

[Cambridgecutie]

She was unhinged, uncontrollable. I think she wanted marriage and the security which went with it. It was the 1950s, when family values were trumpeted, men still held open doors for women, they were respected and not thought of as murderers. The Church still held sway, and remember the crime was committed on the holiest day of the year for Christians.

London always was a step apart from the rest of the country. But Ellis rejected the Defence strategy of playing on domestic violence, the possibility that Blakely had caused her miscarriage, insisting on making herself up in the dock. One can imagine what a 1950s jury made of that.

But if she wanted marriage and security the offer was there from Blakely.  Also the other guy who paid her son's shcool fees.

[Jane]

She was unhinged, uncontrollable. I think she wanted marriage and the security which went with it. It was the 1950s, when family values were trumpeted, men still held open doors for women, they were respected and not thought of as murderers. The Church still held sway, and remember the crime was committed on the holiest day of the year for Christians.

London always was a step apart from the rest of the country. But Ellis rejected the Defence strategy of playing on domestic violence, the possibility that Blakely had caused her miscarriage, insisting on making herself up in the dock. One can imagine what a 1950s jury made of that.

Today, it would be recognized that both 'conditions' were the result of the termination of a pregnancy. I doubt her rejection of such would have made a difference. I suspect she'd have been said to have been in denial.

[Steve_uk]

But if she wanted marriage and security the offer was there from Blakely.  Also the other guy who paid her son's shcool fees.

There was an earlier offer, but Ellis had become a mess and would thenceforth not be accepted in David's social circle. She resented him for losing her job as hostess of the club and was jealous of his other relationships with women.

[Steve_uk]

Today, it would be recognized that both 'conditions' were the result of the termination of a pregnancy. I doubt her rejection of such would have made a difference. I suspect she'd have been said to have been in denial.

In the video Rod Crosby posted (#1) Ellis made it clear to her defence barrister she didn't want any of that being brought up before the jury. It might not have made a difference, but it seems she was resigned to her fate and signed her own death warrant.

[Jane]

In the video Rod Crosby posted (#1) Ellis made it clear to her defence barrister she didn't want any of that being brought up before the jury. It might not have made a difference, but it seems she was resigned to her fate and signed her own death warrant.

Might such suggest depression?

[Steve_uk]

Might such suggest depression?

I think so Jane. She had lost the will to live by the end.

[RodCrosby]

I think Ellis was not exactly 'suicide by cop', but was still 'suicide by judicial process'.

She wanted to die, and be for eternity with Blakely...

Some say she kept the last bullet for herself, but didn't have the guts to pull the trigger. [Not sure how true that is. Others can opine...]

Pierrepoint recalls her hanging...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVQ1m0afwXI

Justice Havers, Christmas Humphreys QC and her solicitor John Bickford also recall the case.

Sad. Very sad. But (according to the Home Secretary) "The law must take its course..."