Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.Jump to contentThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleDavid Blakely (left) was killed by Ruth Ellis (right) in 1955 (PA)Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the United Kingdom, has been granted a conditional pardon, a decision confirmed by David Lammy. The King accepted the government's advice to issue the pardon, following persistent calls from Ellis's family who argued that crucial evidence of abuse by her lover, David Blakely, was not presented at her original trial. Ellis was executed in July 1955 at the age of 28, three months after she shot David Blakely dead outside The Magdala Pub in Hampstead, north London. During her trial at the Old Bailey in June 1955, Ellis's confession that she intended to kill Blakely when she shot him led to a swift guilty verdict and the mandatory death sentence. Her execution generated significant public outrage and was a pivotal factor in advancing the abolition of the death penalty in Britain, which was eventually suspended in 1965. In fullRuth Ellis: Last woman to be hanged in Britain finally granted pardonMore bulletinsThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Why the last woman to be executed in the UK has been granted a pardon
Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.Jump to contentThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleDavid Blakely (left) was killed by Ruth Ellis (right) in 1955 (PA)Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the United Kingdom, has been granted a conditional pardon, a decision confirmed by David Lammy. The King accepted the government's advice to issue the pardon, following persistent calls from Ellis's family who argued that crucial evidence of abuse by her lover, David Blakely, was not presented at her original trial. Ellis was executed in July 1955 at the age of 28, three months after she shot David Blakely dead outside The Magdala Pub in Hampstead, north London. During her trial at the Old Bailey in June 1955, Ellis's confession that she intended to kill Blakely when she shot him led to a swift guilty verdict and the mandatory death sentence. Her execution generated significant public outrage and was a pivotal factor in advancing the abolition of the death penalty in Britain, which was eventually suspended in 1965. In fullRuth Ellis: Last woman to be hanged in Britain finally granted pardonMore bulletinsThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
