RUTH ELLIS GRANTED POSTHUMOUS PARDON 71 YEARS AFTER EXECUTION

Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Britain, has been granted a posthumous conditional pardon by the King. Ellis was hanged in July 1955, three months after shooting David Blakely at The Magdala Pub in Hampstead, north London. Justice Secretary David Lammy announced the decision to Parliament, stating that the pardon replaces the death penalty with a life sentence to recognise "a profound injustice in this exceptional case". The pardon does not claim Ellis was innocent of killing Blakely.

Ellis was a nightclub hostess aged 28 when convicted following a jury deliberation lasting 15 minutes. Her family said evidence that she was "badly treated by her lover" was never presented at trial. Ellis's grandchildren, Laura Enston and Stephen Beard, campaigned for the pardon and were present in Parliament when Mr Lammy made the announcement. Ms Enston said the pardon formally acknowledges that "the justice system failed her" and that "Ruth should not have been executed".

Ms Enston stated that whilst the pardon cannot reverse the events of 71 years ago or restore lives broken by Ellis's death, the formal acknowledgement "matters profoundly to our family". She described Ellis as "a victim of sustained and brutal abuse" whose children "never recovered" from her execution. The pardon represents the first such conditional pardon granted for a woman executed in the United Kingdom.