The Last Woman Hanged in Britain: Ruth Ellis and the Crime That Changed a Nation
She didn’t run. She didn’t cry. She waited for the police. And she never denied pulling the trigger.
On Easter Sunday, 1955, five gunshots shattered the spring calm of Hampstead, London.
Moments later, 28-year-old Ruth Ellis, clad in a fur-trimmed coat and ghost-pale composure, was arrested outside a pub, gun still in hand.
Her victim? David Blakely, a wealthy racing driver and her abusive lover.
Three months later, she was executed by hanging, becoming the last woman ever put to death in the United Kingdom.
But Ruth Ellis wasn’t just a murderer.
She was also a woman failed—by society, by the law, and by love.
Who Was Ruth Ellis?
Born in 1926, Ruth Ellis came from a working-class Welsh family wracked by instability and abuse. By her teens, she was independent, navigating the world of nightclub hostessing, beauty contests, and modeling gigs in post-war Britain—a society where a woman’s survival often depended on the men she attached herself to .
She became a mother to two children by two different men. One child died in infancy. The other was sent to live with her mother.
Then came David Blakely.
A Love Story Laced With Violence
Blakely was handsome. Upper-class. Charismatic.
But also manipulative, alcoholic, and violent.
He beat Ruth. Cheated on her. Controlled her finances.
Once, he punched her so hard she miscarried.
And yet, like many survivors of abuse, she stayed… locked in a cycle of hope, fear, and emotional captivity .
By April 1955, Ruth was unraveling. The abuse, the broken promises, and the psychological torment had become unbearable.
Easter Sunday: The Crime That Shocked a Nation
That evening, Ruth learned Blakely was at a pub in Hampstead.
She went there with a borrowed .38 pistol, waited outside, and when he exited, she called his name.
He ignored her.
So she fired.
Two bullets hit him. The rest were fired as he lay on the ground.
Ruth was arrested immediately and calmly told police:
“It was obvious that when I shot him, I intended to kill him.”
A Swift Trial. A Harsh Sentence.
The trial lasted less than two days.
Under the British law at the time, her motive didn’t matter.
If you intended to kill (and you did) you were sentenced to death by hanging.
Her defense barely touched on her trauma:
The beatings
The miscarriage
The control
The fear
She was found guilty. The sentence was death. And on July 13, 1955, Ruth Ellis was executed at Holloway Prison, despite massive public outcry.
Why Ruth’s Case Still Matters
Ruth Ellis’s story lives on not because of how she died, but because of why she killed.
She wasn’t a cold-blooded killer.
She was a battered woman pushed past her breaking point in a time when domestic violence wasn’t recognized and abusers weren’t held accountable.
Her execution stirred a national reckoning.
It raised questions about justice, trauma, and the black-and-white morality of capital punishment.
And just one decade later, the UK abolished the death penalty for murder.
Want the Full Story?
To hear the full tale narrated with chilling, historical detail, listen to Morbid Morsel #6: ‘Last Woman Hanged’ now streaming on the Morbid History podcast.
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