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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.

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[-] ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 hours ago

So they still think she deserved to die in prison, but the slow way? :/

[-] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 2 points 51 minutes ago* (last edited 38 minutes ago)

She was convicted of murder, life in prison is the mandatory punishment for that in the UK currently, so, yes.

Back in 1955, actually up to 1969, the mandatory punishment for murder was execution.

this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2026
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