Who was Ruth Ellis? Nightclub manager, convicted murderer and last woman hanged in the UK

Ruth Ellis was a nightclub manager who became the last woman to be hanged in the UK, after murdering her husband.

Her incredible life will be dramatized in ITV drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, where she will be played by Lucy Boynton.

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Overcoming a Horrible Upbringing

Ruth was born on October 9, 1926 in Denbighshire, Wales.

She grew up in Baskingstoke, Hampshire, and was raised by her mother Elisaberta, a Belgian war refugee, and her father Arthur, a cellist.

When Arthur’s twin brother died in 1928, when Ruth was only 2 years old, he became physically and sexually abusive towards Ruth’s older sister, Muriel.

Even though she knew about the abuse, Elisaberta (known as Bertha) did nothing to intervene.

Arthur also began to mistreat Ruth.

Ruth became an usherette at a cinema in Reading, after leaving school at just 14 years old.

She gave birth to a son on September 15, 1944, after having an affair with a married Canadian soldier named Clare Andrea McCallum.

Life as a nightclub hostess

By the end of the decade, Ruth had become a nightclub hostess in Hampstead.

She had landed the job after working as a nude model and made much more money than she did as an usherette or factory worker.

However, Ruth’s manager, Morris Conley, blackmailed his employees into sleeping with him.

In early 1950, Ruth decided to become a full-time escort.

On November 8 of that year, she married George Johnston Ellis, 41, a divorced dentist and father of two sons.

She had met him at her nightclub, the Court Club, where he was considered a violent customer.

Ellis was paranoid that Ruth was having an affair and when she gave birth to a daughter named Georgina, in 1951, he refused to believe she was his child.

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Ruth takes a gun

Ellis and Ruth divorced, and in 1953 she began a relationship with David Blakely.

David was a publicly educated man whom she met at the Little Club.

At the time, she had become manager of the Knightsbridge nightclub and was regularly lavished with gifts by her famous friends.

His relationship with Blakely was extremely volatile, with the couple breaking up and getting back together regularly.

Ruth left Blakely because she felt she couldn’t return the favor, but she eventually returned after briefly dating a man named Desmond Cussen.

In January 1955, she suffered a miscarriage after Blakely hit her while she was pregnant.

Three months later, on Easter Sunday, April 10, she took a taxi and left to find her ex-lover.

At 9:30 p.m., she pulled a gun from her purse and fired five shots at Blakely.

When the first missed, Blakely tried to go around the car but was caught by the second ball.

After he fell to the ground, Ruth shot again and killed him.

In shock, Ruth asked Blakely’s friend Clive Gunnel to call the police.

When a police officer arrived, she simply said, “I’m guilty, I’m a little confused.” »

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A shocking court appearance

Ruth was taken for a medical examination, but doctors found no evidence of a mental or physical illness that could have driven her to commit the attack.

On June 20, 1955, she appeared before Number One Court at the Old Bailey in London.

His lawyer, Aubrey Melford Stevenson, said his appearance could harm his case.

She was dressed in a black suit with bleached blonde hair styled and styled, creating a striking silohuette.

When asked if she intended to kill Blakely, Ruth was honest.

She said: “It is obvious that when I shot him I intended to kill him.”

She was convicted of murder within twenty minutes by the jury and sentenced to death.

Ruth’s execution

Ruth wrote to Blakely’s parents and told them that she “always loved” their son and would “always die loving him.”

She was visited by the Bishop of Stepney, Joost de Blank, before her execution on July 13, 1955.

Sadly, she was hanged and buried within the walls of Holloway Prison.

Years later, in the 1970s, her grave was exhumed and moved to a cemetery in Buckinghamshire, where Blakely was buried.

The news of Ruth’s death caused a sensation in British society and was even discussed within the cabinet.

Ruth was the last woman to be executed in Britain, with her case shocking lawmakers across the country.

A cruel love

Ruth’s incredible story will be dramatized in upcoming ITV drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story.

She will be played by Lucy Boynton, an actress known for her roles in Bohemian Rhapsody, Miss Potter and Sing Street.

The show is set in 1955, the year Ruth was hanged, and is based on Carol Ann Lee’s biography A Fine Day for Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story.

Viewers will be able to watch the series when it arrives on ITV on March 25, 2025, 70 years after his death.