The name Ruth Ellis has become synonymous with tragedy, marking her as the last woman to be executed for murder in the United Kingdom. In 1955, she faced the gallows after fatally shooting her lover outside a pub in Hampstead Heath, London. However, her life story is as intriguing and complex as her well-documented death. A new four-part drama titled A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story premieres on ITV on Wednesday, 5 March at 9 PM, shedding light on her tumultuous life. At just 28 years old when she was executed, Ruth had already lived a life filled with dramatic turns; she was a divorcee, a mother of two, and a former nightclub manager who had left school at the tender age of 14 to work as a cinema usherette. Her execution ignited a nationwide debate and heralded significant changes in UK law.
Who Was Ruth Ellis?
Born on 9 October 1926 in Rhyl, Denbighshire, Wales, Ruth was one of six children born to Elisaberta (Bertha) Goethals and Arthur Hornby, who later adopted the surname Neilson. Her mother was a Belgian war refugee, while her father was a cellist from Manchester, known for performing on transatlantic liners. During her early childhood, the family relocated to Basingstoke, Hampshire. Some biographers suggest that this move, along with the change of surname, was an attempt to obscure the physical and sexual abuse that Arthur Neilson inflicted upon his daughters, Ruth and her sister Muriel.
Ruth left school at 14 and began working as a cinema usherette in Reading. A year later, in 1941, she befriended Edna Turvey, the girlfriend of her older brother Julian, who is credited with introducing Ruth to a more extravagant lifestyle. By this time, Arthur had moved to London for work, and both Ruth and Edna eventually followed him to the capital. Ruth took up a position at the Oxo factory on the South Bank and also waitressed in a tearoom in Leicester Square. During the Blitz, she heroically rescued her father from the rubble of a bombed building, saving his life. At the age of 17, in 1944, she became pregnant after a relationship with Canadian soldier Clare Andrea McCallum, who was a decade her senior. Her mother sent her to a nursing hospital in Northumberland, where she gave birth to her son, Clare Andrea (Andy) Neilson, on 15 September 1944. After the birth, the child’s father ceased financial support and returned to his family in Canada. Consequently, Andy was cared for by his aunt Muriel and grandparents, with Ruth supporting them through various jobs.
To augment her income, Ruth began nude modeling for Manchester Square’s Camera Club, during which time she met Morris Conley, an entrepreneur who owned several nightclubs in London. By early 1950, Ruth was employed as a hostess in his venues in Hampstead and soon transitioned into escort work. She became pregnant by one of her clients but opted for an abortion.
In the summer of that year, Ruth crossed paths with George Johnson Ellis, a divorced dentist and regular patron at the Court Club in Mayfair. Initially hesitant, Ruth soon began a relationship with the 41-year-old, culminating in marriage in November 1950. Unfortunately, George’s alcoholism marred their relationship, which was characterized by violence and frequent separations, during which Ruth often returned to her parents. In October 1951, she gave birth to a daughter, Georgina, but George refused to acknowledge the child as his, and the couple subsequently divorced.
Faced with the challenge of supporting two children, Ruth returned to work for Conley and was soon back at the Court Club. By this time, she had dyed her hair blonde and taken lessons in elocution and etiquette, impressing Conley, who promoted her to manager of the Little Club in Knightsbridge in autumn 1953. This new position came with a flat above the club, where she resided with her children. During this period, she encountered racing driver David Blakely, who hailed from a wealthy family and was educated at prestigious institutions such as Shrewsbury School and Sandhurst.
Before long, David moved into Ruth’s flat, despite being engaged to another woman. The relationship became tumultuous; Ruth became pregnant but chose not to continue with the pregnancy. Their on-again, off-again relationship mirrored her previous one with George Ellis, marked by alcohol abuse, jealousy, and violence. Both continued to see other people. At one point, Ruth began dating Desmond Cussen, a former RAF pilot and director of the family tobacco business Cussen & Co. After losing her job at the Little Club, she moved into Cussen’s flat in London while maintaining her relationship with Blakely, who eventually proposed to her.
In early 1955, Ruth suffered a miscarriage following a violent altercation with Blakely, and their relationship deteriorated further, pushing her to the brink of despair.
Why Was Ruth Ellis Hanged?
On Easter Sunday, Ruth sought out Blakely at The Magdala Tavern in Hampstead Heath. Upon spotting his car parked outside, she waited for him to exit. At approximately 9:30 PM, as he left the pub with his friend Clive Gunnell, Ruth retrieved a Smith & Wesson revolver from her handbag and fired six shots at Blakely, fatally wounding him. Ruth allegedly turned to Mr. Gunnell and requested, “Will you call the police, Clive?” One of the bullets ricocheted off the road, injuring a bystander, Gladys Yule, who subsequently lost the use of her right thumb.
Ruth was apprehended by an off-duty police officer and later charged with murder. Despite undergoing medical and psychiatric evaluations, no evidence of mental illness was found. On 20 June 1955, she appeared before the Old Bailey, where Justice Havers posed a poignant question to her: “Mrs. Ellis, when you fired that revolver at close range into the body of David Blakely, what did you intend to do?” Ruth candidly replied, “It is obvious that when I shot him, I intended to kill him.” On the second day of the trial, the jury deliberated for a mere 20 minutes before returning a verdict of guilty for murder rather than manslaughter. Mr. Justice Havers had no choice but to impose the only sentence permissible: death by hanging.
What Happened Next?
After being sentenced, Ruth was incarcerated at Holloway Prison in London. While there, her solicitor, John Bickford, wrote to the then Home Secretary, Gwilym Lloyd George, outlining potential grounds for a reprieve. However, Lloyd George denied the request. Over 50,000 signatures were collected in a petition advocating for clemency, but this too was dismissed.
On 12 July 1955, the day before her execution, Ruth requested a visit from her former divorce lawyer, Victor Mishon, and his clerk, Leon Simmons. During their meeting, she recounted the full narrative behind the shooting of David Blakely, stipulating that her story should not be used to plead for an eleventh-hour reprieve. Ruth disclosed that Cussen had given her the gun, taught her how to operate it, and driven her to the scene of the crime. Despite this information being taken to the Home Office, it did not alter Ruth’s fate. In a poignant final letter to Blakely’s parents, she wrote, “I have always loved your son, and I shall die still loving him.”
On the morning of 13 July 1955, Ruth had an early visit from the Bishop of Stepney before her scheduled hanging by executioner Albert Pierrepoint at 9 AM. However, the execution was delayed by one minute due to a hoax call suggesting a stay of execution, which necessitated verification from the Home Office. Ruth was laid to rest in an unmarked grave within the confines of Holloway Prison, and years later, her remains were relocated to a churchyard in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, at the request of her son Andy.
How Did Ruth Ellis’s Death Change the Law?
The sensational nature of Ruth’s case garnered widespread media attention and intensified an ongoing national discourse surrounding capital punishment. Newspaper columnist William Connor, writing under the pen name Cassandra, argued for clemency prior to the hanging, asserting, “Ruth Ellis does not matter, but what we do to her – you and I – matters very much. And if we do it, and we continue to do it to her successors, then we all bear the guilt of savagery, untinged with mercy.” Following her execution, he lamented in The Daily Mirror, “The one thing that brings stature and dignity to mankind and raises us above the beasts will have been denied her – pity and the hope of ultimate redemption.”
Notable novelist Raymond Chandler also voiced his outrage in a letter to the Evening Standard, condemning the hanging as an example of “the medieval savagery of the law.” Ruth’s execution marked a pivotal moment in the movement advocating for the abolition of the death penalty in the UK, leading to its eventual abolition for murder in 1969. In 1957, the legal concept of diminished responsibility was introduced, allowing defendants to argue that they should not be held fully accountable for their actions due to impaired mental functions at the time of the crime.
In August 1999, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) received an application to review Ruth Ellis’s conviction. The CCRC considered whether she might benefit from contemporary legal developments regarding provocation and diminished responsibility, although these defenses were not available at the time of her offense. After a thorough review, the CCRC concluded that provocation had been improperly excluded from the jury’s considerations during Ruth’s trial. However, in September 2003, the Court of Appeal upheld the original conviction.
