At 28, Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged for murder in the UK after she fatally shot her Playboy's lover, and her controversial beliefs questioned 70 years later. It's raised.
Ellis' short life and famous cases have been revisited in the new four-part drama series, A Crul Love: The Ruth Ellis Story.
The US premiere of the show is a streaming service for Britbox and stars Lucy Boynton from “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It is based on Carol Anne Lee's book on true crime, “A Good Day of Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story.”
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Ruth Ellis, executed in 1955, is the subject of the new scripted series, “Cruel Love.” (Getty Images)
“The biggest misconception is that Ruth is portrayed as a hysterical woman in his public mind and she committed this crime from jealousy,” Lee told Fox News Digital. “Neither is true. … She was devastated by her committing this crime, but she firmly believed in her death… she saw her eyes.”
Ellis' troubles began early in life. Her upbringing was devastated by sexual abuse at the hands of her father, London Evening Standard It has been reported. The cellist patriarch's patriarch frequently moved his family and later urged biographers to doubt that it was to prevent neighbors and schools from not realizing abuse, the outlet shared.
Ruth Ellis modelled her before making her mark in the world of shady London nightclubs. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
“She grew up in a troubled family, and there's no doubt about that,” Lee explained. “One of the things she wanted more than anything was to escape poverty. She became a teenage mom. Her partner turned out to be a married Canadian soldier.
Ruth Ellis played an unreliable role in the film Diana Daws (pictured here). (RKO Radio Pictures/de Carvalho Collection/Getty Images)
One of the things Ellis admired was his charm. She was frequently invited to go to movies and was urged to bleach the blondes like the screen siren of the day. By the age of 17, Ellis was part of London's shady social scene and became a nude model, Metro UK reported.
It was the court club that the regular client caught her eye, and the outlet reported. In 1950 she married George Johnston Ellis and welcomed her daughter. However, the marriage became violent and he questioned whether their children were him. After the union broke down, Ellis turned to sex work to achieve his goal.
Ruth Ellis, a nightclub hostess, accompanied by a friend from around 1950. (Evening Standard/Halton Archive/Getty Images)
“Her husband was a violent alcoholic so she had a terrible relationship with him,” Lee said. “For most people, that might have been a point where everything was so badly wrong. But Ruth was so determined that she kept running through top London nightclubs. Know all of them. It was there.
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David Blakely, race car driver and motor engineer (Arami)
At Carroll's club in 1953, Ellis met race car driver David Blakely. A few weeks later, Blakely moved in with Ellis.
“When David met Ruth, it was one of those instant attractions,” explained Lee. “They were attached to each other. For Ruth, there was something very different about David. She saw something vulnerable in him. But unfortunately, the other side of the relationship was dark. He was. was extremely abusive, like her ex-husband. If not more so.”
Inspired by the screen sirens of her era, Ruth Ellis dyed the platinum blonde in her hair. (Arami)
According to Metro UK, alcohol-fueled Blakely reported that Ellis regularly punches and kicks. After drinking overnight, Blakely punched pregnant Ellis hard in her stomach, so she miscarried, London Evening Standard reported. Blakely also had multiple issues with other women.
Desmond Cassen and Ruth Ellis (MirrorPix via Getty Images)
In a nightmare, Ellis had a secret relationship with Desmond Cassen. Reports say the former RAF pilot became an accountant and provided Elis with shelter as his relationship with Blakely deteriorated.
Ellis claims she often gave Blakely's money for alcohol, which would result in him attacking her after he drank. Lee said Ellis “lost everything for him.”
Ruth Ellis (Daily Mirror/MirrorPix via Getty Images)
“She was giving him a free drink,” explained Lee. “He continued to complain of poverty despite monthly allowances from his wealthy mother and stepfather. She felt sorry for him and spoiled him. She was drinking quite a bit too.
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Ruth Ellis claimed that David Blakely attacked her so hard that he had a miscarriage. (Getty Images)
“He lived with her for free. Her boss didn't like this at all. He said, “That's it – you'll go, your pair.” As long as Ruth was worried, this could have happened to her.
A Magdalene tavern in London where Ruth Ellis shot his girlfriend, David Blakely. (Michael Crabtree/PA/PA images via Getty Images)
It is unknown that it ultimately became a turning point for Ellis. However, on Easter Sunday, 1955, Ellis headed to Magdalene, a pub that Blakely visited frequently. When she arrived, she pulled the gun out of her handbag and shot Blakely six times. He was two months short on his 26th birthday.
“Ruth was waiting for David to come out of the pub,” Lee said. “As soon as she saw him, she cried out his name. … Four shots went into David's body. One was in bliss.”
The bullet holes can still be seen on the walls of a Magdalene tavern in Hampstead, London. There, on Easter Sunday, 1955, Ruth Ellis blew his girlfriend, David Blakely. (Michael Crabtree/PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Lee said that Ellis was standing near her dead lover. She then said, “Would someone call the police?” An unpublished police officer appeared from the pub and took the gun away from Ellis. At the police station, a gentle Ellis confessed.
Lee said that when he was to go to a fair trial, the odds for Ellis were greetings.
“As far as Ruth is concerned, she was coming from the wrong side of the truck,” Lee said. “She was recognized by the world's press as a single mother, tart, who slept with men for money. And this was a time when women were still kept at home. Ruth didn't believe it. A career for herself.
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When prosecutor Christmas Humphries asked what Ruth Ellis was going to do when he shot David Blakely, she said, “When I shot him, I'm going to kill him.” It's obviously that was.” Carol Ann Lee said the statement had little choice for the ju judge because it had laws. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
“The media and the system wanted to set an example from her,” Lee continued. “It was all against her. She said very clearly that the reason she killed David was because they couldn't end their existence together. It was in a circle.
Ruth Ellis and David Blakely's relationship was described as obsessive by author Carol Ann Lee and was plagued by abuse. (Daily Mirror/MirrorPix via Getty Images)
“They fight, they break up, they'll make up. It'll just go round and round, but every time it got worse and worse. David attacked her.
Lee insists that Ellis is going to kill him. However, she “lost a nerve” when she fired the gun, and one bullet hit the bystander's thumb.
Ruth Ellis was executed at Holloway Prison. Thousands gathered. (via NCJ/Kemsley/NCJ Archive/MirrorPix and Images)
“I think that's another reason why she didn't protect herself,” Lee said. “She felt that she had done something wrong, and she deserved to die for her crimes, and she didn't want to live in a world where David was not there either.”
It only took the ju judge to find Ellis guilty. She was hanging and sentenced to death.
Two days before Ellis' execution, her lawyers provided evidence, including testimony from a witness that showed Blakeley repeatedly abused her, the Guardian reported. Ellis pointed out that he had a miscarriage 10 days before the shooting.
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“Cruel Love: The Shocking True Story of Ruth Ellis Behind the ITV Drama” is available on Kindle. (Amazon)
The outlet also pointed out that a week before Ellis was hanged, a reprieve was given to a 40-year-old woman who beat her 86-year-old neighbor with a shovel after a long-standing feud. Still, none of these factors were sufficient to save her.
“I think other women were considered more respectable,” Lee explained. “She was a married mother. Her husband spoke strongly on her behalf. Ruth had none of it. She had no such respect.”
When Ellis was sentenced, there was immediate public protest. A petition was created in search of her freedom. Reports have shown that 50,000 signatures have been reached.
Muriel Jacbity, the sister of Ruth Ellis, arrives at the London High Court on September 16th, 2003. At the time, the family's lawyer asked the judge to change the murder conviction of Ellis, whose former trial ju judges were banned from returning to the crime of manslaughter. (Scott Barber/Getty Images)
The day before her death, Ellis claims it was Cassen who gave her the gun, tells her how to fire it, and even takes her to the pub. Cassen vehemently denied the charges. He later moved to Australia.
On July 13, 1955, Ellis was hanged at Holloway Prison. Before her death, she wrote to Blakely's parents, saying, “I have always loved your son, and I will still love him and die.” The death penalty was suspended in 1965.
Lee calls the case a “justice miscarriage.”
It took me 14 minutes to find Ruth Ellis guilty. (Getty Images)
“Everyone deserves a fair trial, whatever,” she said. “Only then, we can say that someone was found to be rightly guilty or innocent. But Ruth hadn't been tried at all in a fair trial. … That's horrifying. It's still that's right.”
