King Charles III salutes the armed forces after the annual Trooping the Colour in recognition of the King's birthday on June 13. Charles gave a posthumous pardon to Ruth Ellis, who was the last woman hanged in Great Britain. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo
July 8 (UPI) -- King Charles III granted a posthumous pardon to the last woman hanged in Britain.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced the conditional pardon of Ruth Ellis as an "act of mercy recognizing the historic injustice of the death penalty in this exceptional case."
Ellis shot and killed David Blakely, 26, outside a pub in London on April 10, 1955. She was convicted of murder and executed on July 13 the same year. She was 28.
Four of Ellis' grandchildren applied for the pardon. They argued that she was a victim of a historical injustice because she suffered domestic abuse and trauma.
