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Ruth Ellis
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A very good program that was on this week investigating the crime that Ruth Ellis alleged to have committed, her life, her trial and the outcome.
Very good program very eye opening.
Worth a watch to anyone interested in social history.
BBC4 available to download - 3 parts.
Very good program very eye opening.
Worth a watch to anyone interested in social history.
BBC4 available to download - 3 parts.
Answers
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I am in the middle of the first part - having recorded all of it.
On the cruise ships we holiday on, they have regular talks with slide shows, and the last one was a four-part talk about the RE case from a Home Office pathologist. I have been to many talks on cruises, and his was by far the worst, he could have condensed it to two forty-five minute talks, instead of rambling, and he did ramble, for four, with decreasing audience numbers each time.
It did spur me on to audition myself, and I have been down and presented a talk, and I am going back for another one shortly, and then, hopefully, I get to be a (far better!!!) cruise speaker myself.
The present Mrs Hughes saw the talks, and has watched the series so far, and says it is miles better than the tosh he gave us, badly presented as it was - the talk that is, not the series, which she says is excellent!
On the cruise ships we holiday on, they have regular talks with slide shows, and the last one was a four-part talk about the RE case from a Home Office pathologist. I have been to many talks on cruises, and his was by far the worst, he could have condensed it to two forty-five minute talks, instead of rambling, and he did ramble, for four, with decreasing audience numbers each time.
It did spur me on to audition myself, and I have been down and presented a talk, and I am going back for another one shortly, and then, hopefully, I get to be a (far better!!!) cruise speaker myself.
The present Mrs Hughes saw the talks, and has watched the series so far, and says it is miles better than the tosh he gave us, badly presented as it was - the talk that is, not the series, which she says is excellent!
Interesting.
Yes she fired the weapon but they did not take into account lots of variables - the police did not investigate it fully and not all the facts were given to the jury.
It seems that the reason she was not given the reprieve was nothing to do with the ricoched and more to do with 'the class of woman' that she was - there was new evidence that everyone refused to take into account.
3 months from arrest to hanging- seems a bit rushed imo!
Yes she fired the weapon but they did not take into account lots of variables - the police did not investigate it fully and not all the facts were given to the jury.
It seems that the reason she was not given the reprieve was nothing to do with the ricoched and more to do with 'the class of woman' that she was - there was new evidence that everyone refused to take into account.
3 months from arrest to hanging- seems a bit rushed imo!
I haven't see the documentary yet, but the perceived wisdom is that Miss Ellis was a victim of her times, and the cultural attitudes then, both to women with her life history, and the way the case was presented and (not) defended.
Her execution did much to change attitudes to capital punishement, which was ceased not long after she died.
Her execution did much to change attitudes to capital punishement, which was ceased not long after she died.
Although women were very rarely hanged there were two cases prior to Ellis in 1955: Stella Christophou (1954) and Louisa Merrifield (1953), the latter poisoned her victim. It was an unwritten rule at the Home Office that poisoners were never reprieved. Curiously, under the Homicide Act of 1957, murder by poison was no longer a capital offence.
“It seems that the reason she was not given the reprieve was nothing to do with the ricoched and more to do with 'the class of woman' that she was”
The reason she wasn’t reprieved is because she committed a callous pre-meditated murder and the only available sentence at that time was execution. Reprieves were granted only where there were compelling reasons to do so. It is quite true that Mrs Ellis had a particularly troubled life. But many of her troubles were brought on by her chosen lifestyle, her insistence on remaining with a violent husband and taking multitudinous concurrent lovers. Of course none of that excuses her suffering physical abuse. But neither does it excuse her pumping four bullets into David Blakely, three of them from close range as he lay on the deck and one from such close range it left powder burns on his skin.
“3 months from arrest to hanging- seems a bit rushed imo!”
Not in those days it wasn't, it was par for the course. They didn’t fanny around:
Timothy Evans – arrested December 1949, executed 9th March 1950.
Derek Bentley – crime committed 2nd November 1952, executed 28th January 1953.
The reason she wasn’t reprieved is because she committed a callous pre-meditated murder and the only available sentence at that time was execution. Reprieves were granted only where there were compelling reasons to do so. It is quite true that Mrs Ellis had a particularly troubled life. But many of her troubles were brought on by her chosen lifestyle, her insistence on remaining with a violent husband and taking multitudinous concurrent lovers. Of course none of that excuses her suffering physical abuse. But neither does it excuse her pumping four bullets into David Blakely, three of them from close range as he lay on the deck and one from such close range it left powder burns on his skin.
“3 months from arrest to hanging- seems a bit rushed imo!”
Not in those days it wasn't, it was par for the course. They didn’t fanny around:
Timothy Evans – arrested December 1949, executed 9th March 1950.
Derek Bentley – crime committed 2nd November 1952, executed 28th January 1953.
Speed was often a feature in years gone by as was sometimes scant regard for accuracy.
Last month I recommended this series, which although a mere snapshot had some interesting parts.
http://
Will still be available online.
Last month I recommended this series, which although a mere snapshot had some interesting parts.
http://
Will still be available online.
The rule was that 3 clear Sundays had to pass between sentence and execution. Most prisoners appealed against conviction, although they could not appeal against sentence of death. This stopped the clock as it were. When an appeal was dismissed a new period of three weeks was set. Ellis did not appeal her conviction. The average time lapse between sentence and execution was 6 weeks.
