Rome, 8 July (LaPresse) – British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has announced that King Charles III has granted a posthumous pardon to Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom. The BBC reports this, explaining that Ellis was hanged at Holloway Prison in London in 1955, after being convicted of the murder of her lover, David Blakely. Her family had campaigned to have her murder conviction quashed, arguing that she was a victim of domestic violence and had suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Blakely before shooting him. “I have the honour of announcing that His Majesty the King has accepted our advice to grant a posthumous pardon to Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK,” Lammy said. “Whilst not asserting her innocence regarding the murder of David Blakely, the pardon commutes the death sentence to life imprisonment, thereby acknowledging the profound injustice committed in this exceptional case,” he added. “We hope this will bring some peace to Ruth Ellis’s family, who have borne the burden of what happened to her for over 70 years,” he concluded.
King Charles grants posthumous pardon to the last woman to be hanged in the UK
Rome, 8 July (LaPresse) – British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has announced that King Charles III has granted a posthumous pardon to Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom. The BBC reports this, explaining that Ellis was hanged at Holloway Prison in London in 1955, after being convicted of the murder of her lover, David Blakely. Her family had campaigned to have her murder conviction quashed, arguing that she was a victim of domestic violence and had suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Blakely before shooting him. “I have the honour of announcing that His Majesty the King has accepted our advice to grant a posthumous pardon to Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK,” Lammy said. “Whilst not asserting her innocence regarding the murder of David Blakely, the pardon commutes the death sentence to life imprisonment, thereby acknowledging the profound injustice committed in this exceptional case,” he added. “We hope this will bring some peace to Ruth Ellis’s family, who have borne the burden of what happened to her for over 70 years,” he concluded.
