My grandmother Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain – she doesn’t belong with serial killers and sex offenders in Madame Tussauds’ ‘Chamber of Horrors’

She will forever be remembered as the last woman executed for murder in England. But this week, nearly 70 years later, there was redemption for former nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis.

Ellis was executed in Holloway Prison in north London in July 1955, aged 28, by shooting her lover David Blakely, 25, outside the Magdala pub in nearby Hampstead.

Amid public outrage over her execution, the former glamor model appeared calm about her fate, as revealed in unseen letters that emerged when her family called for her to be granted a posthumous reprieve last October.

‘I’m doing quite well,’ Ellis wrote in a letter with his name and prisoner number written on prison paper, the day before he was hanged by Britain’s most prolific executioner, Albert Pierrepoint.

Ellis, a single mother of two children when she died, was portrayed as a ‘cold-blooded killer’. However, his family long denied this portrayal, arguing that he was physically and emotionally abused before killing his partner.

He shot and killed Blakely after a tumultuous relationship that included infidelity on both sides, an aborted pregnancy, and violence, including being punched in the stomach during an argument that resulted in a miscarriage.

Four of his grandchildren, who fought for a pardon after his death, said today Ellis may raise a defense of diminished responsibility for his treatment of them.

Now, 71 years later, that wish has been granted by the King, announced by Justice Secretary David Lammy in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Ruth Ellis shot and killed David Blakely outside the Magdala pub in South Hill Park, Hampstead.

Ruth Ellis appeared alongside serial killers in Madame Tussauds’ ‘Room of Horrors’

Today, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Ellis’ granddaughter Laura Enston, 47, reveals the family’s fight for justice and their enduring pain.

‘His case was shameful,’ he said. ‘He was made an example.’

Ms Enston hailed the pardon as ‘significant’ and added: ‘Moving his sentence doesn’t bring him back, but it sends a very clear message that they’ve got things wrong.

‘He wasn’t just being tried for murder; ‘He was also on trial for morality.’

A single mother from a modest background, Ellis showed no emotion at the Old Bailey hearing in June 1955.

As a defence, the judge told the jury to ignore the fact that she was ‘mistreated by her lover’.

During cross-examination, Ellis admitted that he planned to kill Blakely, and it took the jury just 20 minutes to convict him of murder; this was a charge that carried the mandatory death penalty.

Ms Enston also acknowledged how her grandmother had acted ‘coldly’ when giving evidence in court.

He said: ‘She unintentionally enacted the persona of the cold-blooded killer she was portrayed as, but knowing what we now know about trauma and slow-moving provocation, Ruth was traumatized and a typical victim of domestic violence.

‘I don’t think many people at the time understood how much women were suffering.’

Sitting in the House of Commons yesterday, Ms Enston said she suddenly realized how important the family’s campaign was.

However, he isn’t done fighting yet.

He has now called on Madame Tussauds museum in central London to remove a figure of his grandmother from its ‘Room of Horror’ exhibition.

To his dismay, Ellis is flanked by serial killer ‘Jack the Ripper’, necrophile Nilsen, Acid Bath Killer John Haigh and the infamous Kray Twins.

“I know why he’s there, but he shouldn’t be around serial killers and sex offenders,” he said, adding that he contacted Madame Tussauds but did not receive a response. Madame Tussauds has been approached for comment.

Ellis’ execution came just after Styllou Christofi, 54, was sentenced to death for the murder of his daughter-in-law.

By an eerie coincidence, both Christofi and Ellis committed their murders on the same street, South Hill Park in Hampstead, in the 1950s.

Both were buried in unmarked graves in Holloway, then exhumed in 1971 along with three other female murderers of the 20th century.

Among them was 29-year-old Edith Thompson, who was executed in 1923 for the murder of her husband, Percy.

David Blakley and Ruth Ellis photographed together at a social event

Daily Mail’s report on the execution of Ruth Ellis in July 1955

‘I’m doing quite well’ is the stoic letter Ruth Ellis wrote the day before she became the last woman to be executed in Britain

Also exhumed at the same time were ‘baby farmers’ Amelia Sach, 29, and Annie Walters, 54, who were hanged in prison in February 1903 after being found guilty of infanticide in East Finchley, north London.

All were transferred to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey in 1971, except Ellis, whose remains were returned to his family.

Thompson was exhumed in 2018 and buried with his family next to his mother.

The case that attracted the most attention, not only in the headlines at the time but also in subsequent film and TV productions, was the case of Ruth Ellis.

These include the 1985 film Dance With a Stranger, starring Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett, and last year’s ITV documentary series A Cruel Love, starring Bohemian Rhapsody star Lucy Boynton.

Ms Enston, Ellis’s granddaughter, said she first learned about the case when her mother showed her the 1985 film when she was just seven.

‘[It was] It is definitely not suitable for children’s eyes. This was my first experience with Ruth Ellis. This was the beginning of me wanting to explore the story myself, but at first I didn’t want any part of it.’

He prefers last year’s series because it was more sympathetic to his late grandmother.

Mr Lammy told MPs on Wednesday that the King had granted a conditional pardon on the advice of the Government.

Ms Enston said ‘justice has finally been served’ for Ellis and the family he left behind.

He said: ‘Ruth was the victim of constant and relentless abuse. Their children, our mother and our uncle never recovered. The shadow of Ruth’s execution fell on two generations.

‘This amnesty does not undo what happened 71 years ago. It does not repair broken lives, children left behind, or lost years.

‘But it says officially and finally that Ruth should not be executed; The justice system failed him.’

Miss Enston admits that despite what her grandmother went through, she never should have killed Mr. Blakely.

The Magdala in north London closed in 2016 but reopened as a pub and restaurant in 2021

Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be executed for murder in England

The shooting of David Blakely took place near a pub in Hampstead, north London.

‘Did he deserve to die? I don’t think he did. But he was clearly a troubled individual.”

Ms Enston said domestic violence was poorly understood at the time and her grandmother was now considered a victim of battered woman syndrome and was treated differently by the justice system.

James Libson of law firm Mishcon de Reya, who represented Ellis’ family, said Ellis had “suffered significantly” from his “abusive, violent partner.”

After a series of controversial executions and a series of injustices, the death penalty for murder was permanently abolished in 1969.

Two years after Ellis’ execution, the law was also changed to provide reduced liability as a defense against murder.

Police lined the surrounding streets ahead of Ruth Ellis’ execution at Holloway prison in north London

Ruth Ellis was hanged by executioner Albert Pierrepoint on July 15, 1955.

Ruth Ellis is thought to have posed in a club above her Brompton Road flat in 1955.

Miranda Richardson played Ruth Ellis in the 1985 film Dance With A Stranger.

The convicted murderer was also played by Lucy Boynton in a drama series last year.

Ruth Ellis’ grandchildren applied to the Ministry of Justice last year to request a conditional pardon.

Unlike court challenges, pardons can take into account wider factors, such as social developments that might make a conviction or resulting sentence inappropriate or unfair.

Speaking in the House of Commons, the Justice Secretary said: ‘I am honored to say that His Majesty the King has accepted our recommendation to grant a conditional pardon to Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in the United Kingdom.

‘Although the pardon does not claim innocence of murdering David Blakely, it replaces the death penalty with a life sentence to recognize the existence of a profound injustice in this exceptional case.’

The Ministry of Justice said the move reflected ‘evidence of domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behavior that may be understood differently today’.