New ITV drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story shares the life of the last woman to be sentenced to death in Britain.
The four-part drama, based on Carol Ann Lee’s bestselling biography A Fine Day For A Hanging, is set in 1955 in the glamorous world of London club-land, where Ruth found huge acclaim as the capital’s youngest club manager.
Ruth Ellis entered a relationship with racing driver David Blakely, which later turned abusive, and he was later killed. Ruth was arrested and charged for his murder and was condemned to be hanged.
On July 13, 1955, at exactly one minute past nine, 28-year-old Ruth Ellis was executed by hanging.
Her trial and execution were widely published in the 1950s, with 50,000 people signing a petition for her clemency. The petition was sadly rejected, and protestors gathered outside Holloway Prison on the day of her execution.
This is the true story behind the new ITV drama and who Ruth Ellis is.
Who was Ruth Ellis?
Ruth Ellis and David Blakley at the Little Club in London 1955 (Image: Mirrorpix/Getty)
Ruth Ellis was born Ruth Hornby in in Wales in 1926, the fifth of six children to cellist Arthur and mother Berta.
Early in her childhood, her family moved to Basingstoke in Hampshire and attended school there before moving to London in 1941.
Aged 17, Ellis became pregnant by a Canadian soldier and gave birth to a son, known as Andy, who went to live with her mother.
After working a number of menial jobs, Ruth took up nude modelling and later a role as a nightclub hostess at the Court Club in Duke Street.
Ruth married divorced dentist George Ellis in 1950, who was a regular customer at the Court Club where she worked. She quickly became pregnant with her daughter Georgina, but their marriage didn’t last long.
George Ellis’ alcohol-fuelled violence and jealousy led him to refuse to acknowledge the paternity of his daughter, claiming that Ellis had conducted a number of affairs during their marriage.
Ruth moved back in her with her parents with her children and took up prostitution again to make ends meet. However, Ellis’ fortunes changed for the better when she became the manager of the Little Club in Knightsbridge in 1953, where she came into contact with the stars of the day.
Celebrity friend and Formula One driver Mike Hawthorn introduced her to up-and-comign racing driver David Blakely. The two fell in love and David left his fiancee to be with Ruth.
But the relationship became rocky when Ellis became pregnant and terminated the pregnancy. Ruth meanwhile had lost her job at the Little Club and she moved in with former RAF pilot Desmond Cussen.
Yet her relationship with Blakely continued and jealously ignited into a streak of violence as both parties saw other people.
Just 10 days before the murder, Ellis suffered a miscarriage due to Blakely punching her in the stomach during an argument.
Lucy Boyton as Ruth Ellis and Laurie Davidson playing Ellis’ lover David Blakely who she shot dead (Image: ITV)
On Easter Sunday, 10 April 1955, Ellis shot Blakely dead outside The Magdala public house in Hampstead, London.
Stepping out of the shadows, she said, “Hello, David,” and shouted, “David”. As Blakely turned round, she revealed a .38 Smith and Wesson Victory revolver from her handbag and opened fire. Blakely was shot four times and pronounced dead at the scene. He was found to have multiple injuries to the intestines, liver, lung, aorta and trachea.
Realising the seriousness of her actions, Ellis asked to be arrested and was taken away by off-duty police officer Alan Thompson.
Why was Ruth Ellis hanged?
Twenty-eight year old Ruth Ellis died on the gallows in London’s Holloway prison today for the murde (Image: Getty)
Ellis’ trial took place at the Number One Court at the Old Bailey in London on June 20, 1955, and was presided over by Mr Justice Cecil Havers.
She declined to plead insanity, with her defence being she had acted under provocation due to Blakely’s beatings.
When called to the witness box, Ellis was asked by prosecutor Christopher Humphreys: “When you fired the revolver at lost range into the body of David Blakely, what did you intend to do?”
Ellis replied: “It’s obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him.”
The jury retired to consider their verdicts after the two-day trial had finished and jurors quickly found Ellis guilty of murdering Blakely and she was sentenced to death.
There were attempts by Ellis’ family and members of the public to persuade Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George to reprieve her death sentence, with 50,000 people signing petitions asking for the sentence to be reprieved, but it was to no avail.
The evening before her execution, 500 people gathered outside the gates of Holloway Prison with the crowd singing and chanting for several hours in support of Ellis.
On July 13, 1955, at exactly one minute past nine, 28-year-old Ruth Ellis was executed by hanging.
Her execution was delayed for a minute when a hoax caller phoned Holloway Prison, impersonating Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George, and falsely claimed Ellis would receive a pardon.
After the call was confirmed as a hoax, Ruth was executed. She was buried in an unmarked grave within the prison grounds, as was the custom at the time.
Her death was just as controversial as her life and paved the way for the abolition of capital punishment in the UK in 1965.
Ruth’s remains were reburied in the churchyard of St Mary’s Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
You can watch the first episode at 9pm on Wednesday, March 5 on ITV1 and ITVX.