UK Grants Conditional Posthumous Pardon to Ruth Ellis, the Nation’s Last Female Execution Victim

Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the United Kingdom, has received a conditional posthumous pardon.

Ellis was hanged at London’s Holloway Prison in 1955 after being convicted of murdering her lover, David Blakely.

Her family has long campaigned to have her murder conviction overturned, arguing she was a victim of domestic abuse and suffered physical and emotional mistreatment at Blakely’s hands before the shooting.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy informed MPs that the King had approved the pardon, noting that the death penalty has since been replaced by life imprisonment.

Ellis’s granddaughter, Laura Enston, welcomed the announcement, saying: “The shadow of Ruth’s execution has fallen across two generations. We have carried shame that was never ours to bear.”

Nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis, from Rhyl, Denbighshire, shot Blakely outside The Magdala pub in Hampstead, London, following a tumultuous relationship marked by infidelity on both sides.

Ellis had undergone an illegal abortion in the UK at the time and was physically abused by the racing driver—including being punched in the stomach during an argument that led to a miscarriage.

During her trial, the judge instructed the jury to disregard the fact that the mother‑of‑two had been “badly treated by her lover” as a defence. The case preceded legal reforms that introduced diminished responsibility as a defence by two years.

On Wednesday in the House of Commons, Labour MP Pam Cox asked Lammy for the pardon on behalf of Ellis’s grandchildren, who were watching from the public gallery.

She said: “Her case serves as a haunting reminder of a time when our justice system ignored the realities of domestic abuse and coercive control.

“In the decades since, members of Ruth’s family and supporters have campaigned unwaveringly for her to receive a posthumous pardon.

“Will the deputy prime minister agree with me that their courageous campaign, and the terrible lessons of Ruth’s case, must strengthen the government’s resolve to free women from devastating cycles of abuse?”

Lammy responded: “I have the honour to say that His Majesty the King has accepted our advice to grant Ruth Ellis a conditional pardon, the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom.

“While the pardon does not claim she was innocent of killing David Blakely, it replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment to recognise a profound injustice in this exceptional case.”

He added: “We hope this brings a measure of peace to Ruth Ellis’ family, who have carried the weight of what happened to her for over 70 years.”

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