On Wednesday 8 July 2026, a pardon was granted to Ruth Ellis by the King. This does not mean that she was innocent but it "recognises a profound injustice in this exceptional case."
On 10 April 1955 at 9.30pm, Ruth Ellis shot and killed her ex-boyfriend outside the Magdala pub in Hampstead North London. Subsequently she was tried and condemned to death. On 13 July 1955 she was hanged. She was 28 years old and the last woman to be hanged in the UK.
There was a great deal background to this case that was ignored at the trial and this has been explored many times in the media.
The Daily Telegraph maintains that a pardon should not have been granted as the murder was committed in front of witnesses and there was never any doubt that RE fired the shots.
While I completely agree that a pardon should have been granted, I find it puzzling and inconsistent that Edith Thompson was not pardoned following an earlier appeal.
Edith Thompson was returning from the theatre with her husband Percy not long before midnight on 3 October 1922. A man jumped out and attacked Percy and after a struggle Percy had been stabbed to death. The murderer was Frederick Bywaters who, though only 20, was 29 year old Edith Thompson's lover. There was never any direct evidence that Edith Thompson was in any way complicit in the murder but the fact that about 60 love letters had been sent by her to Frederick Bywaters weighed heavily against her especially as she had fantasised about killing Percy in some of them. Despite the fact that Edith Bywaters had no part in the violence against her husband she was convicted of murder along with Frederick Bywaters and both were hanged on 9 October 2023 at 9am.
If you are dealing with narcissism, let’s all help each other.
