The Real Ruth Ellis
You may think you know the story of the last woman to be hanged in Britain, but now a new ITV drama, based on a book by Carol Ann Lee, tells the full story of domestic violence and mental abuse
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- Carol Ann Lee
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Society has always viewed female criminals with more revulsion than their male counterparts, especially if they fail to conform to other, traditional views of femininity. As a truecrime writer, the opportunity to explore these issues was partly what drew me to the case of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, aged 28, on 13 July 1955 at Holloway Prison. My book A Fine Day for a Hanging: the Real Ruth Ellis Story, has now been adapted for television as A Cruel Love.
The case is fairly well-known, but I started my research by spending a few days at the National Archives in Kew reading through the original files. I soon realised that, actually, Ruth’s full story had never really been told. Those tissue-thin papers with their official stamps were a largely untapped source of authentic information. Inside the cardboard files secured with string lay the facts of the police investigation into Ruth’s shooting of her lover David Blakely – the transcripts of her shockingly short trial; Home Office memos and departmental arguments; letters from the public pleading either in favour of or against Ruth’s then imminent execution; the heart-breaking prison documents that provide a diary of how the convicted woman spent her final days. And, nestled in among them all, in chillingly bureaucratic tones, an outline of the preparations for her hanging.
Lucy Boynton in A Cruel Love (left) and the real Ruth Ellis (right). Silverprint Pictures for ITV/Bettmann
The trial transcripts made for disturbing reading, laying bare how Ruth had been on a virtually unstoppable path to meet executioner Albert Pierrepoint. Having told herself that she deserved to die for murdering the man she still loved, Ruth steadfastly refused to offer any defence. Her baffled lawyer, John Bickford, tried to wrest details of Blakely’s physical abuse from his client, but Ruth insisted on minimising the violence, dismissing Bickford’s probing questions with a curt, “I bruise very easily”.
Ruth loathed the idea of being seen as a victim, remembering all too well her troubled, violent, abusive, poverty-riddled and incestuous home environment as the fifth of six children raised in Rhyl on the coast of north Wales. She was proud of escaping that nightmare to become the youngest manager on the vibrant London club scene. At the height of her success, she had a good income and a smart flat above her domain, the Little Club in Knightsbridge – whose membership included Hollywood stars, renowned sportsmen and politicians. But Ruth’s relationship with Blakely destroyed it all, leaving her in a bedsit, penniless once more.
Ruth loathed the idea of being seen as a victim
Image mattered terribly to Ruth. She persuaded the prison authorities to let her bleach her hair before the trial and she carefully chose her best suit to wear each day. Yet she was scorned for it, regarded by those who didn’t know her as a grubby little social climber, rather than a damaged but determined young woman who had lost everything for love.
The mitigating circumstances that would, after Ruth’s case, lead to “diminished responsibility” becoming a legal defence, were murmured rather than declared loudly at the Old Bailey. The emotional and physical abuse Ruth had endured from Blakely – which culminated in him beating her so badly that she miscarried – were skimmed over. Domestic violence in 1950s Britain, which also retained corporal punishment in schools, was regarded as fairly commonplace and hardly grounds for shooting the stepson of one of London’s wealthiest men. Particularly when the gun had been wielded by a divorced mother-of-two, who was referred to in the headlines as “a good-time girl” and “a model”, inferring that her morals were on trial as much as the murder.
David Blakely and Ruth Ellis (left) and Laurie Davidson in A Cruel Love (right) Manchester Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images/Silverprint Pictures for ITV
Nor was another aspect of her case explored – initially because, again, Ruth vetoed the line of enquiry. Who had given her the gun, prepared it for her, taught her how to shoot, and driven her to the Magdala Tavern in Hampstead where she encountered David for the last time? The answer to all of those questions is Desmond Cussen. Often described as Ruth’s “other lover”, Cussen was the quiet, former RAF pilot who ran his family’s successful tobacco business.
British newspapers in 1955, when Ruth Ellis was hanged. Daily Mirror and Evening Standard
His part in the murder was deliberately quashed – first by Ruth and then by the court, almost certainly following a little encouragement from an extremely well-connected relative within the Establishment. Ruth protected Cussen in return for his promise to care for her ten-year-old son, Andre, whom she had following an affair with a married Canadian soldier when she was 17 (Ruth also had a three-year-old daughter, Georgina, with her ex-husband when she died). By the time she realised he had renaged on his part of the deal, it was too late.
Ruth’s execution led to the abolishing of capital punishment
It’s a remarkable case, and Ruth was a remarkable woman in so many respects. Two years after her trial, and largely as a result of it, the law became a little more compassionate with the introduction of “diminished responsibility” as a plea. Ten years later, the outcry over her execution contributed directly to capital punishment being suspended and eventually abolished.
Unsurprisingly, in the 70 years since her death Ruth’s story has been made into films, books, plays and musicals. A Cruel Love offers modern audiences the fullest version of events and the most accurate portrayal of Ruth Ellis (played by Lucy Boynton) to date.
Desmond Cussen and Ruth Ellis (left), and Mark Stanley in A Cruel Love (right) Mirrorpix via Getty Images/Silverprint Pictures for ITV
The attention to detail throughout is remarkable, from the use of actual locations wherever possible to the faithful reproduction of the wallpaper in Ruth’s flat. Nigel Havers even plays his own real-life grandfather, Sir Cecil Havers, who was the judge at Ruth’s trial and sent money every year for Andre’s upkeep, until Ruth’s son took his own life in 1982.
The rest of the supporting cast reads like a wish list, particularly Toby Jones as Ruth’s tortured lawyer, John Bickford. Equally, Laurie Davidson possesses the charm and vulnerability that made the real-life David Blakely so irresistible to Ruth. For all his privilege, David had endured an incredibly fractured childhood; when we see him discussing that with Ruth, we understand why she felt so protective of him. It may even be the reason why she tried to rationalise some of his behaviour.
Toby Jones stars in A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story Silverprint Pictures for ITV
Ultimately, however, A Cruel Love belongs to Lucy Boyton. I was fortunate enough to be invited to watch f ilming a number of times, including a dancehall sequence shot at the Rivoli Ballroom, one of London’s last intact, authentic dance halls. W h e n everything was ready for a particular scene, the actors trooped in, led by Lucy in her big slippers, which she wore whenever the cameras were off. It was a strange moment, watching as she ‘became’ Ruth, laughing with friends about an admirer in the crowd over cocktails.
Several months later, I watched the entire drama at home. The unfiltered emotion in Lucy’s prison scenes, especially when the fragile shell Ruth built around accepting her fate suddenly cracks, are so upsetting that I found myself hoping she would be reprieved. Lucy understood Ruth from the moment she was cast, firmly telling the director that her character wasn’t a victim. Of course she was, but we know now that Ruth herself was fatally determined to prove otherwise. Lucy grasped this vital strand – perhaps the key to Ruth’s entire character – immediately.
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I’ve been asked how Ruth’s family feel about A Cruel Love. I don’t want to speak on their behalf, but the criticism often levelled against dramas based on real-life events – that it’s unfair on the families involved – isn’t my experience at all. One thing I can say is this: I’m certain Ruth’s grandchildren have found much to be proud of in Ruth, as she would undoubtedly be proud of them
Authors
Carol Ann Lee
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