The true story of Ruth Ellis and why she was Britain's last woman to be hanged

Yahoo

04-03-2025

ITV's latest drama series based on a true story will be arriving on the channel soon, chronicling part of the life of Ruth Ellis.
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story will begin airing on Wednesday, March 5 about a significant point in British history.
Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in the UK in 1955 after she fatally shot her abusive boyfriend David Blakely.
The series will explore the events that led to the shooting and her subsequent legal fight.
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story tells the heartbreaking true tale of the last woman hanged in Britain. Based on true events, this gripping four-part drama series, starring Lucy Boynton and Toby Jones, is coming soon to ITV and ITVX. pic.twitter.com/zBLzuGYyOD
— ITV (@ITV) February 17, 2025
Lucy Boynton stars as Ruth Ellis with other cast members in the series including Toby Jones, Laurie Davidson, Arthur Darvill and Juliet Stevenson.
Some viewers may not be aware of Ruth Ellis's story so here's all you need to know.
Ruth Ellis was born Ruth Neilson on October 9, 1926, in the town of Rhyl in Wales, and was the fifth of six children to Bertha Goethals and Arthur Hornby.
She moved to Basingstoke with her family during her childhood with her upbringing being blighted by sexual abuse at the hands of her father.
Ruth left school when she was 14 and in 1941 she befriended Edna Turvey, the girlfriend of her older brother Julian, who was on leave from service in the Royal Navy.
The Standard reports that Edna introduced her to "a racy life of alcohol and men" and a few years later she found herself pregnant at the age of 17.
It adds: "The father was a married Canadian soldier, Clare Andrea McCallum – and while she kept the baby (whom she called Clare Andria, or Andy) – the relationship didn't survive and Ruth found herself working factory jobs to support herself and her son."
Towards the end of the 1940s, Ruth was partaking in sex work, starting with nude modelling, before becoming a nightclub hostess in Hampstead.
The captivating #LucyBoynton stars in intoxicating new drama, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story. Set in 1955 in the glamorous world of London clubland, this series exposes the timeless British obsessions of class, sex and death. Coming soon to #ITV and #ITVX. pic.twitter.com/axSyQPdxtT
— ITV (@ITV) February 19, 2024
By early 1950, Ruth was making money as a full-service escort and in November of that year married George Johnston Ellis, a 41-year-old divorced dentist.
George was an alcoholic and the relationship became violent with George being convinced that Ruth was cheating on him.
When their daughter Georgina was born in 1951, he refused to acknowledge her as his own, with the pair splitting up shortly after.
Ruth returned to sex work but by 1953 she had started working at the Little Club, a Knightsbridge hotspot.
The Standard adds: "A driven Ruth took elocution and etiquette classes, and soon found herself promoted to manager – making her one of the youngest women to do so at 27.
"The job came with money, celebrity friends and status, and this was where Ellis met David Blakely, the man she would ultimately kill."
Blakely was a racing driver and after only a few weeks of knowing Ruth moved into her flat despite being engaged to another woman.
Ruth also began seeing another man: Desmond Cussen, a former RAF pilot turned accountant.
Sacked from the Little Club after her behaviour went downhill, Ruth left her flat and moved into Cussen's house near Oxford Street, but continued to see Blakely.
However, the pair struggled to reconcile their own relationship and began seeing other people.
The relationship became violent, with Blakely often attacking Ruth after he had been drinking.
The Standard adds: "This culminated in an incident in January, 1955, where he punched Ruth in the stomach so hard that she miscarried."
A few months later Ruth shot Blakely outside the Magdala Tavern in Hampstead where she was quickly arrested.
The Radio Times adds: "Aged 28, she killed her lover, 25-year-old David Blakely, on 10th April 1955 in front of the Magdala Tavern in Hampstead, London. She was immediately arrested, and the jury took just over 20 minutes to reach a guilty verdict."
When the murder verdict was passed and Ruth sentenced, there was a public outcry and almost immediately, calls for a reprieve began.
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Despite calls for a reprieve the decision was not reversed and Ruth was hanged in Holloway Prison on July 13, 1955.
She was buried in an unmarked grave on the grounds of the prison but later reburied at St Mary's Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
The Standard reports: "Ruth's death had a profound effect on the way the British public, and the rest of the world, saw the death penalty."
The death penalty itself was halted in 1965, with the last execution occurring in 1964.
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story begins on ITV1 and ITVX on at 9pm Wednesday, March 5.