Ruth Ellis, hanged in UK was abuse victim and should be pardoned
source: BBC News
published: 22 October 2025
Image Credit: Pexels/Duda at www.Pexels.com
The grandchildren of the last woman to be hanged in Britain are seeking a posthumous pardon, saying she was physically and emotionally abused by her partner before she killed him.
Nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis, from Rhyl, Denbighshire, was executed on 13 July 1955 after being convicted of murdering her lover David Blakely. She was hanged at London's Holloway Prison.
"We are determined to do what we can to right this historic injustice and honour not only Ruth but all victims of domestic abuse who have been let down by the criminal justice system," said her granddaughter Laura Enston.
Laura Enston grew up in a family haunted for generations by a murder and an execution. As the granddaughter of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, Laura’s life was never going to be straightforward.
Ellis shot Blakely outside The Magdala pub in Hampstead, London, following a tumultuous relationship involving infidelity on both sides.
Ellis had an abortion, which was illegal in the UK at the time, and was physically abused by the racing driver - including being punched in the stomach during an argument that led to her miscarriage.
The British public was already questioning whether capital punishment had a place in 20th Century society and, two years after Ellis' hanging, legal changes saw diminished responsibility introduced as a defence.
The judge told the jury in her case to disregard the fact that the mother-of-two had been "badly treated by her lover" as a defence.
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