On the 10 April 1955, the Magdala pub in South End Park, Hampstead, was the scene of a shooting that sent Ruth Ellis to the gallows. The last woman to be hanged in Britain, the outcry that followed Ruth’s execution was instrumental in bringing about significant changes to the law.
Ruth was born in North Wales in 1926, when her father Arthur Hornby changed the family name to ‘Neilson’, which appears on Ruth’s birth certificate. Unable to get regular employment as a musician, Arthur became increasingly violent and abused Ruth and her sister Muriel. The family moved to war-time London in 1941 where 15 year old Ruth got waitressing and factory work. She moved on to acting lessons and singing in a band. But when she became pregnant by a French-Canadian soldier, Ruth discovered her lover had a wife back home, so they couldn’t marry. The baby, Clare Andre (Andy) McCallum, was born in 1944 and brought up by sister Muriel and Ruth’s mother.
Ruth started working for Morris Conley, described as ‘being in the centre of corruption in the West End of London.’ After the war, he bought up properties and let flats to girls who worked as hostesses in his clubs. There Ruth met George Ellis, known on the circuit as‘the mad dentist.’ That should have rung alarm bells, for George was indeed a dentist but also an abusive alcoholic. He was 41, Ruth was 24. They married in 1950 and moved to Southampton. Their daughter Georgina was born the following year after the couple had split up and Ruth had returned to London. Morris promptly made her the manageress of his Little Club at 27 Brompton Road, throwing in a free flat over the premises.
In August 1953, an admirer of Ruth’s, Desmond Cussen, introduced her to the good looking 24 year old David Blakely. Blakely’s background was very different to Ruth’s: a comfortable middle class family, with parents who financially supported him. David shared his step-father’s passion for racing cars, but otherwise, he was not keen on working. He tried unsuccessfully to develop a sports car with friend Ant (Anthony) Findlater while having an affair with Ant’s wife Carole.
Ruth and David were living together inside a fortnight. Marriage was promised but unlikely to happen. David knew his parents wouldn’t approve of Ruth, her background or her job and she terminated a pregnancy early in 1954. Morris Conley disliked David, who caused scenes at the Little Club. On one occasion, he hit Ruth across the face. When takings fell from around £200 a week to under £80, Ruth left – possibly fired by Conley – and went to live with Desmond Cussen in his flat, 20 Goodwood Court, Devonshire Street. They’d had a brief affair but Ruth rejected his offer of marriage and continued to see Blakely.
David and Ruth’s relationship continued on its downward spiral, increasingly unstable and violent. By New Year 1955, both told friends they wanted to separate but at the same time, they were intensely jealous of one another. Ruth moved out of Cussen’s flat and he loaned her cash to rent a room at 44 Egerton Gardens, Kensington, where she lived with David. That March Ruth was again pregnant but miscarried, following a violent row with Blakely.
As Easter approached, Ruth was more hopeful about the future. ‘David was quite happy, and he was saying everything would be alright, talking about marriage again.’
On April 8th, Good Friday, she believed they parted on the very best of terms, when Blakely went to see Ant Findlater at his flat in 29 Tanza Road Hampstead. But when he didn’t come home Ruth got Desmond to drive her to Hampstead. There she saw David’s car and smashed three of the windows. Always jealous of Carole, Ruth now feared the Findlaters were using their au pair to lure David away. On Saturday, Ruth hung around Tanza Road, and returning to Egerton Gardens, she spent a second sleepless night, drinking heavily.
On the evening of 10 April, Easter Sunday, the Findlaters threw a party. When they ran out of cigarettes and beer, David and a fellow guest drove to the nearby Magdala public house to buy supplies. But Ruth had again come looking for David and was seen peering in at the pub window. When the men left the Magdala, Ruth called out ‘David’ - and shot him. She fired six times as he tried to escape. Four bullets entered his body, one in his back from just three inches away, as he lay on the pavement. Ruth was quite calm and surrendered to an off-duty policeman. David was pronounced dead on his arrival at New End Hospital.
The Trial
Ruth Ellis’s trial at the Old Bailey began on 20 June and was one of the shortest murder trials on record, ending the following day. She appeared confident, was dressed smartly and had been allowed to peroxide-dye her hair, which wasn’t the smartest move as someone in the public gallery exclaimed loudly, ‘blonde tart!’ You needed a ticket to attend and outside, they were exchanging hands for £30, (over £1,000 today).
Ruth pleaded not guilty. The prosecution repeated her statement to the police; ‘When I put the gun in my bag I intended to find David and shoot him.’ Society’s prejudices were ranged against her: a divorcee with two children by different fathers, who had affairs with two men at once and earned her living working in a club.
At the time, there were only four available defences against a murder charge: the accused didn’t do it, was insane, or acted in self defence. Lastly, if sufficient provocation existed, the charge could be reduced to manslaughter. This was the only one available to Ruth’s QC. Although Ruth did not make a good witness, ‘she did nothing to counter the view that she was a cold hearted ‘tart’ who had shot her lover,’ it’s been argued her defence was poorly handled. Her QC failed to draw out how damaged she was and how desperate she had been, when she shot Blakely. Ruth’s cross examination by the prosecution consisted of a single question: What had she intended to do when she fired the revolver at close range into David Blakely’s body? Ruth replied, ‘It is obvious that when I shot him I intended to kill him.’
The judge ruled that the charge could not be reduced to manslaughter and concluded; ‘even if you accept every word of Mrs Ellis’s evidence there does not seem to be anything in it which establishes any sort of defence to the charge of murder.’ The jury only took 23 minutes to return their verdict of guilty with no recommendation to mercy. Ruth was returned to Holloway Prison to await her execution on 13 July. Many were outraged at the verdict and campaigned for a reprieve. Ruth herself appeared resigned to death, saying she wanted to join Blakely, but eventually agreed to ask for clemency. American author Raymond Chandler wrote, ‘it was a crime of passion committed, I feel certain, under a kind of shock which may have flared up uncontrollably.’ But there were letters supporting the verdict, including an influential one from Mrs Gladys Kensington Yule, a banker’s wife injured by a ricocheting bullet outside the Magdala; ‘Don’t let us turn Ruth Ellis into a national hero. I stood petrified and watched her kill David Blakely in cold blood. As it is, I have a partly crippled right hand for life.’
The Home Secretary refused a reprieve. On the 12th, Ruth made a desperate confession to her lawyer, stating that on the 10th, she and Cussen had been drinking heavily, he had given her the loaded gun and driven her to Hampstead. (Her friend Jackie Dyer had already made a statement to this effect). But there was no last minute pardon. Ruth was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint the following morning at 9am at Holloway prison and buried inside prison grounds. Pathe News shows the crowds waiting outside the prison. Like so many murderers before her, Ruth’s waxwork was on display in Tussaud’s Waxworks Blackpool inside 24 hours.
The aftermath
Ruth’s execution was instrumental in bringing about the 1957 Homicide Act which included the concept of diminished responsibility and in 1969, the abolition of the death penalty.
Ruth’s body was exhumed on 31st March 1971 and reinterred at St Mary’s Church, Amersham, with a simple memorial to: Ruth Hornby, 1926-1955. David Blakely lies nearby at Penn, where his tombstone reads, ‘He was of great heart, courtly and courageous.’
In 1972, John Bickford, one of Ruth’s lawyers, made a statement to the police. He said Desmond Cussen had admitted he had given the gun to Ruth and showed her how to fire it. Cussen emigrated to Australia in 1964, and when questioned by a reporter in 1977, denied any involvement, including Ruth’s last statement. He died in 1991.
The Magdala became part of a tour circuit that took in crime scenes, but there was nothing to see. To encourage visitors, in the early 1990s the landlady Mary Watson made two fake bullet holes under the window with a drill and put up a sign describing what had happened.
‘In 1954 Ruth Ellis shot David Blakely producing these bullet holes. Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in Britain.’
The holes remain but the plaque has been removed. Mary also said the pub was haunted by Ruth whose headless body appeared wrapped in a black cloak or wearing a wedding dress.
A film about the story directed by Mike Newell, starring Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett, called ‘Dance With A Stranger’ was released in 1985.
For many years her family have been calling for a pardon, saying evidence that Ruth Ellis was abused by Blakely was never heard at her trial. They argued that she had been subject to abusive and controlling behaviour, and a modern understanding of the impact on her would have resulted in a manslaughter conviction. Finally, on 8 July 2026 the King approved a conditional pardon recommended by the government.
An earlier version of this story was published in our book ‘Bloody British History, Camden’ (History Press 2013)
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