Ruth’s case is still a talking point 70 years later
Ruth’s case is still a talking point 70 years later
ITV’s ‘The Real Ruth Ellis’ tells the story of the last woman to face the death penalty in the UK. The show aired on ITV1 on Wednesday April 2 as Ruth’s story still captivates viewers 70 years later. In 1955, Ruth Ellis was hanged for murder at the age of 28 after killing her boyfriend, David Blakely.
Her case caused widespread controversy at the time, evoking a high-level of public and press interest. The documentary delves into her life leading up to her tragic end. It explores her early years, her work in the 1950s club scene and her love affair with David Blakely.
The ITV programme also features interviews with Ruth’s grandchildren, and actors in ITV drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story. The four part series aired earlier this year, and explored the events that led Ruth to fatally shoot her abusive boyfriend.
Ruth Ellis’ early life
In 1950s London, Ruth worked as a waitress before she married dentist George Ellis as she craved some stability in her life. It soon turned into an abusive relationship and was described as “toxic.”
She went on to become the manager of a nightclub in Kensington, and her relationship soon deteriorated. She lived in a flat above the club with her two children. She finally had financial independence, before getting herself romantically involved with racing driver David Blakely.
The pair met through the club and became serious very quickly, after a few weeks, Blakely, who was already engaged to another woman had moved into Ruth’s flat. Their relationship hit rocky ground when Ruth fell pregnant and chose to terminate the pregnancy.
After losing her job at the Little Club, she moved in with ex-RAF pilot Desmond Cussen. At the same time, she was still seeing Blakely. The relationship became violent and in January 1955, Ruth was punched so hard in the stomach by Blakely that she miscarried.
Ruth admitted that she often gave Blakely money for cigarettes, food and drink, and that he would attack her after he had been drinking.
David Blakely’s death
On Easter Sunday, April 10 1955, Ruth arrived at The Magdala, a Hampstead pub, where Blakely was with friends. At 9.30pm, Blakely and his friend left the pub and as he arrived at his car, Ruth took a revolver from her handbag and shot at him five times. The sixth shot, which Ruth tried to fire at Blakely, ricocheted off the road and took off the thumb of bystander Gladys Yule.
The killer appeared at the Old Bailey for her trial in June 1955, where she was asked by the prosecutor, Christmas Humphreys, what her motive for shooting Blakely was. She responded: “It’s obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him.”
What happened after Ruth’s sentence?
When the guilty verdict was passed and Ruth was sentenced to death, a public outcry for a reprieve led to a petition. The petition had 50,000 signatures. She wanted no part in it and accepted her sentence but even her lawyers wrote a 14-page letter to the then-Home Secretary, Gwilym Lloyd George, setting out the argument for a reprieve, or at least a stay of execution, which he refused.
Ruth was sentenced to hanging and remained at Holloway Prison while awaiting execution. She told her mum that she did not want a petition to reprieve her from the death sentence and took no part in the campaign. On the day before the execution, a crowd of 500 people gathered outside Holloway Prison’s gates, singing and chanting in support of Ruth for several hours.
Just before 9am on 13 July 1955, the hangman Albert Pierrepoint and his assistant entered her cell and took her to the execution room where she was hanged.
A Cruel Love:
The ITV drama is inspired by Carol Ann Lee’s bestselling biography ‘A Fine Day For A Hanging’. It tells the story of Ruth Ellis and her life leading up to her final days.
ITV says the show “exposes the timeless British obsessions of class, sex and death”. Actress Lucy Boynton plays the central role in the show as she portrays Ruth. The drama also stars Toby Jones, Toby Stephens, Juliet Stevenson, and Laurie Davidson as Ruth’s partner, David Blakely.