Ruth Ellis was 2813:31, 08 Jul 2026The last woman to be hanged in the UK has been granted a posthumous conditional pardon by the King, it was announced today.‌Confirming the news, the Government called it 'an act of mercy recognising the historic injustice of the death penalty in this exceptional case'.‌Ruth Ellis, a nightclub manageress, was executed on July 13, 1955, after being convicted of the murder in Hampstead, London, of David Blakely, who she shot in a pub. She was just 28 and a mother-of-two when she was hanged at Holloway Prison.‌Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily NewsletterThe Ministry of Justice said an application for a pardon was brought by four of Ellis's grandchildren.The application, added the MoJ, 'presented that her responsibility