70 years since Ruth Ellis was executed for murder

RUTH Ellis’s grandchildren have formally applied for her to receive a posthumous conditional pardon.

- By Paul Jeeves Crime Editor

They say new evidence proves Ellis — the last woman to be hanged in the UK — was the victim of long-term domestic abuse.

Lawyers representing the family have now submitted the request to Justice Secretary David Lammy.

It comes 70 years after her death and in the 60th anniversary year of the abolition of capital punishment for murder in Britain.

Ellis’s family say her execution should never have taken place because she was a victim of “long-term, systematic emotional, sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her partner and others”.

They believe this was not adequately taken into account in the criminal proceedings and that it highlights failings in the original investigation and her defence.