Ruth Ellis
jojoeno
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Watching Executions on ITV and I am aghast at the hanging of Ruth Ellis by Pierrepoint, I was also taken aback that the judge who gave the decision was Sir Cecil Havers , grandfather of Nigeland how his grandfather tried to get a reprieve but to no avail.It was then his son who prosecuted the Birmingham six and Guildford 4 and questioned why they were not done for treason and the death penalty,
In a 2010 television interview Mr Justice Havers’s grandson, actor Nigel Havers, said his grandfather had written to the Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George recommending a reprieve as he regarded it as a crime passion, but received a curt refusal, which was still held by the family.
It is obvious that the guilt all round the Judiciary was papable
In 1969 Ellis’s mother, Berta Neilson, was found unconscious in a gas-filled room in her flat in Hemel Hempstead. She never fully recovered and did not speak coherently again. Ellis's husband, George Ellis, descended into alcoholism and hanged himself in 1958. Her son, Andy, who was 10 at the time of his mother's hanging, committed suicide in a bedsit in 1982, shortly after desecrating his mother's grave. The trial judge, Sir Cecil Havers, had sent money every year for Andy's upkeep, and Christmas Humphreys, the prosecution counsel at Ellis's trial, paid for his funeral.[2] Ellis's daughter, Georgina, who was three when her mother was executed, was adopted when her father hanged himself three years later. She died of cancer aged 50.
Simply awful
In a 2010 television interview Mr Justice Havers’s grandson, actor Nigel Havers, said his grandfather had written to the Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George recommending a reprieve as he regarded it as a crime passion, but received a curt refusal, which was still held by the family.
It is obvious that the guilt all round the Judiciary was papable
In 1969 Ellis’s mother, Berta Neilson, was found unconscious in a gas-filled room in her flat in Hemel Hempstead. She never fully recovered and did not speak coherently again. Ellis's husband, George Ellis, descended into alcoholism and hanged himself in 1958. Her son, Andy, who was 10 at the time of his mother's hanging, committed suicide in a bedsit in 1982, shortly after desecrating his mother's grave. The trial judge, Sir Cecil Havers, had sent money every year for Andy's upkeep, and Christmas Humphreys, the prosecution counsel at Ellis's trial, paid for his funeral.[2] Ellis's daughter, Georgina, who was three when her mother was executed, was adopted when her father hanged himself three years later. She died of cancer aged 50.
Simply awful
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Was this from the prog on ITV tonight? I was thinking about watching it but the synopsis made it sound celeb based. Who Do You Think Your Executed Family Members Were?
I too watched the programme and the only one who should have got justice was Timothy Evans as he was totally innocent of any crime,.
Reprieve was very common at the time however - about half of people sentenced to hang were reprieved... and there was huge controversy at the time. My parents signed the petition to have her sentence converted to life imprisonment. I never understood the reasoning of the then Home Secretary to be honest.
Awful yes, but those were the times and the Judge gave the only sentence he was allowed
The Jury had their job made very easy for them by her confession and in court when she said "It's obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him"
Several medical and psychiatric examinations found no evidence of mental health issues or insanity , so again the Jury was not given anything other than everything needed for a guilty verdict for which Death was mandatory. And for that you cannot blame the Judge who recommended in his report a reprieve .
Ellis herself said she did not want a reprieve though it would appear it was an act brought on by passion and fury . But then a crime of passion would normally be instantaneous on the spot, she got a gun, and then went to find him, it could be argued it was premeditated as opposed to a crime of passion. Sadly we will never know.
So yes awful but as I said those were the times and thankfully we no longer have the death penalty as much as we may often wish people dead for some hideous crimes.
Anyone with suggestions for reading would be good
There are a couple of links here
http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/ruth.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Ellis
In Japan they never tell anyone when they are going to be executed. So everyday could be your last. I suppose that is also a punishment of sorts. Bit barbaric though.
I always thought that if we carried on and hung a few more then we may deter some of the criminal element. But if you look at America it doesn't seem to make much difference. They know if they get caught they could face execution so you might as well take a few more with you as well as they can only hang you once.
And the answer is
Here you go.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ruth-Ellis-Case-Diminished-Responsibility/dp/0140129022/ref=pd_sim_b_2/279-5059384-2242068?ie=UTF8&refRID=0MDG5Y1382W25N133EZV
The only reason Ruth Ellis got so much sympathy is because she was a woman. If it had been a Roger Ellis shooting his lover dead, even though he'd already got another lover, he too would have been hanged in 1955, and we'd have heard no more about it, just as we've heard nothing of so many of the other murderers who were hanged before the death sentence was abolished.
I see no miscarriage of justice in this case, although I do feel sorry for her desperately unfortunate family.
That'll be a good one to watch later
Yep, that was possibly the most controversial hanging ever. Even by the harsh public standards of the early 1950's, it was widely considered very unjust.
Short, but interesting summary by the commentator.
I think with anything, seeing something from the time gives a much better feel and overall impression.
I've just been wondering how or why I've let this case totally pass me by.
The Bentley case is so sad, it's a really depressing event.
Yes she was the last woman hanged in Britain. I learnt about her at college.
He was pardoned, to late though. It's one of the reasons I am against the death penalty.
I think Chris did 10 years. Derek was in custody at the time, how could be guilty of murder
It is notable, however, that although Timothy Evans was given a posthumous pardon in 1966 (that is, his execution is now recognised as being unjustified), his convictions were never formally quashed and in November 2004, an appeal by Evans' half sister, Mary Westlake, to have the convictions quashed was rejected.
She argued that although the Brabin Report had exonerated Evans of the murder of his wife and child, it had not formally declared him innocent. The Court of Appeal recognised this distinction but ruled out a judicial review on the grounds of cost.
Timothy Evans is still, formally, a convicted murderer.
Shocking even though Cristie admitted he murdered her.
Whilst, technically at least, you're correct that there was no miscarriage of justice in this instance, by 1955 the movement to abolish the death penalty was gathering momentum.
It is worth noting that between 1926 and 1954 (in Ellis' lifetime) 677 men and 60 women were sentenced to death in Britain, but only 375 men and 7 women had actually been hanged. Reprieve was far more commonplace than is generally recognised.
Why was Ellis not reprieved..? Again, I must say I agree that the execution was carried out according to lawful procedure but there were strong compassionate grounds for a reprieve and, given the growing public concern about the death penalty, particularly in the wake of the Timothy Evans hanging, the Establishment might have done well to be less obviously determined in their desire to see the woman die.
"The Law Must Take It's Course" was a common phrase in use at the time of such appeals and would often be written on the files of petitions for reprieve.
This comes across as officious, emotionless and without any sort of compassion. A lot of the movement to abolish capital punishment revolved around the sheer inhumanity of the death penalty. At the time of the Ellis hanging, one newspaper columnist wrote:
"The one thing that brings stature and dignity to mankind and raises us above the beasts will have been denied her – pity and the hope of ultimate redemption."
Another referred to "the medieval savagery of the law".
These things struck a chord in the consciousness of a public that had seen such terrible atrocities committed in Hitler's concentration camps. We were a generation that wanted to be better..... nobler.... more just..... more humane and civilised. How could we be those things if we still allowed men and women to die by the rope in the name of the law..?
Today's generation doesn't understand how things were in the 1950's. You don't know how we felt at that time.
The execution of Ruth Ellis was lawful, but many believed unnecessary. It made nothing better and it didn't bring David Blakely back. And it lessened us as a people.
From that moment on, the abolition of the death penalty was not only likely, it was inevitable.
Indeed. That's one of the problems with the death penalty, it creates another set of victims. Just because the spouse, patents, children are the family of someone being executed doesn't mean they'll be any less gutted than the family of someone who was murdered. The state is effectively punishing a group of totally innocent people. Kind of doubling the misery.
That's before you get into miscarriages of justice.