When Ellis was condemned to death in 1955, the horrific violence she had suffered was ignored. Today, vulnerable women are still fighting to be heard, says journalist Joan Smith

Ellis, a nightclub hostess, was executed in 1955 for murdering her lover, David Blakely. Her grandchildren campaigned for a pardon on the basis that she was the victim of abuse.

Elli's grandchildren had called for a posthumous pardon for their grandmother, the last woman to be hanged in Britain in 1955 after being found guilty of murdering her lover David…