Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in Britain, has been posthumously granted conditional pardon, according to Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy.

LONDON (AP) — The last woman to be executed in Britain, for gunning down her abusive lover outside a London pub more than 70 years ago, has been posthumously granted a conditional pardon, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said Wednesday.

Ruth Ellis, a 28-year-old single mother and nightclub hostess, was hanged on July 13, 1955, for the murder of race-car driver David Blakely. She shot him outside the Magdala pub in the Hampstead neighborhood on April 10, 1955.

“While the pardon does not claim she was innocent of killing David Blakely, it replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment to recognize a profound injustice in this exceptional case,” Lammy said.

  • HM King Charles III DG FD@feddit.ukEnglish
    12·
    13 hours ago

    it replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment

    I wonder if there’s an article out there which uses this as a headline, would be good for the “not the onion” communities

    Interesting how she committed the offence in April and was hung in July of the same year. Different world back then, I suppose.