Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the United Kingdom, has been granted a posthumous conditional pardon, replacing her death sentence with life imprisonment to recognise what the government called a profound injustice.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced on Wednesday that King Charles accepted government advice to grant the pardon. Lammy made the statement during Prime Minister's Questions while standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, who was attending the Nato summit in Ankara. Ellis's grandchildren, Laura Enston and Stephen Beard, were present in Parliament for the announcement.
Ellis was hanged at London's Holloway Prison in July 1955 after being convicted of murdering David Blakely outside The Magdala pub in Hampstead. Under modern law, she could have raised partial defences such as loss of control or diminished responsibility. Minister Catherine Atkinson thanked Ellis's grandchildren for their determination in bringing the case forward, noting the family had carried the weight of the events for seven decades.