WEBVTT

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This episode may contain content of a
graphic nature, including descriptions of physical and

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sexual violence against adults, children,
and animals. Listener discretion is advised.

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Hi everyone, I'm Talia and I'm
Tanya, and together we are Crimes and

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Consequences, a true crime podcast.
Welcome back, everyone to another episode of

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Crimes and Consequences. I am Tanya
and this is my lovely co host,

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Talia, and we are attorneys in
real life. Yesh love to dive into

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these cases. I don't know if
love is the right word, but are

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fascinated, faded and you must be
too since you're watching. So before I

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get into today's story, just like
to remind everyone to hit like or subscribe

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if you're watching us on YouTube on
the True Crime Daily YouTube channel. Thank

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you, yes, thank you True
Crime Daily. Please hit the like.

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And today's story that I'm going to
tell is about a red hot love affair

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that ended in murder. Oh but
not in the way you think, okay,

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because you're probably thinking a certain stereotypical
way of murder. But anyway,

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passion, yeah, passion. So
the woman in the story, her name

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is Ruth Ellis. She met David
Blakely in August of nineteen fifty three,

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after she initially met him. I
don't think she liked him very much,

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because she said, like, I
hope I just never see that little shit

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again. Oh well, I don't
know if he's obnoxious or what have you.

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But however, this initial dislike turned
into attraction. Oh because within a

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few weeks they started their romantic affair. That's weird. David was described as

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being a very self confident type of
guy. He you know, he was

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popular with the ladies. Let's say, he was handsome, and he was

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kind of like the playboy type.
Okay, a little arrogant, manipulative,

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Yeah, maybe a little bit.
And it just seemed like he was the

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type of guy that would never love
a woman more than he loved himself.

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Ah okay, yeah, narcissist.
Maybe I'm not a psycho. Yeah,

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he exactly. And unfortunately Ruth the
type of man she was attracted to,

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they were usually were heavy drinkers,
and David was also a heavy drinker,

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and he wasn't a very fun drunk. In fact, he just really couldn't

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hold his liquor at all. He
became destructive and crude and just that's really

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yeah, just yes, exactly,
really unattractive and not a very likable person

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when he was drunk. He you
know, I told you this, This

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love affair moved quick. So within
a few weeks I told you, they

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started their affair. And then not
soon after, David moved in with Ruth,

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even though he was already engaged to
another woman. Damn right, they're

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romance. You know. It wasn't
all roses and sunshine. Okay, right,

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you're thinking, oh, they're really
into each other, but then it

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turned violent. Well how can they
be that much into each other if he's

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engaged, right, and she never
wanted to see the little shit? Yeah,

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right, Like it's like a love
hate kind of thing. I don't

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know, right, right. They
both were driven by severe jealousy. A

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mutual friend said about them that they
were just two people who should have never

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booked up, booked up right.
Ruth was working trying to make the ends

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meet, and David was jobless.
Okay, but his big hobby was he

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building a race car that he had
named the Emperor, and I we have

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a picture of it. It was
a really expensive hobby, and David did

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come from money, so I think
part of the reason why he really didn't

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work is because you know, he
received an inheritance and it wasn't huge,

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but it was enough for him to
be comfortable. But he still mooched a

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lot off of Ruth, so you
know, he's not really contributing to the

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bills. And Ruth is working in
a nightclub. That's your waitress. Yeah,

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she's a hostess, waitress. And
he would show up at the nightclub

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trying to get free drinks, of
course, and Ruth allowed it because he's

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her boyfriend, and she let him
run a tab. But it became out

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of hand and she'd have to pay
for it. Yeah, and she'd have

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to pay for it. And like
I said, David wasn't a great drunk,

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so he'd be there, he'd get
drunk, and he just would turn

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obnoxious an asshole. Actually, she
lost her job because of him, and

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then you know, they eventually she
lost the apartment eventually too. Okay,

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before she lost her job, however, you know the club that she worked

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at, it was called the Little
Club, a little club, and at

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the Little Club she met a really
great guy whose name was Desmond Cussin.

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He was pretty much like everything you
would ever want and a boyfriend. He

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was unmarried. That's yeah, sing
number one single. Unlike David, he

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was. He was someone that had
been in World War Two. He had

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flown a bomber plane during the war. He was wealthy, He had his

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own apartment. You know, he
had good standing socially. His family owned

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a tobacco business which he directed,
so they had some money. Yeah back

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in the fifties, right, everybody
was smoking. I mean tobacco companies today

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that money too. After he and
Ruth began getting to know each other,

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he told her he wanted to marry
her. Oh, and he wanted to

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adopt her two children, because I
haven't mentioned Ruth was married before, and

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she had two children with her ex
husband. She had a girl and a

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boy, and I'll tell you a
little bit about them later. And so,

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you know, he's telling her that
he loves her and he wants to

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marry her, and he was really, like genuinely in love with her,

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but she is his boyfriend, right, And she wasn't in love with Desmond.

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She was basically using him to make
David jealous. Right. But I

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told you she lost her apartment,
so David went wherever, but Ruth moved

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in with Desmond. Oh, and
that was in June of nineteen fifty four.

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She like I told you, she
lost her job, she lost her

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apartment, and that's pretty much the
driving force of why she moved in with

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Desmond. But he was over the
moon. Did she still have her kids?

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Yes, she still had her kids. And Desmond and Ruth were together

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for about two years, and you
know, it was a rocky two years

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because you really even no exactly,
and she was really in love with David.

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Okay, sorry, you're okay,
she's still in love with David.

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Yeah. And after two years,
after two years, and he tried to

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give Ruth everything he financially, sup, I'm sorry. Yes, Desmond tried

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to give her everything. He supported
her financially, He got her own apartment

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for her when she asked. He
told her he wanted to pay for her

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children to go to private school,
and he wanted to pay for like French

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lessons for her and modeling because she
did do a little bit of modeling.

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But so when she left Desmond for
her own apartment, she let David move

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in with her of a bit.
Yeah, and well, wild Desmond's paying

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for the apartment. Wild Desmond's paying
for the apartment exactly, so that kind

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of pissed him off. As you
can imagine, that's not a good idea.

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No, So during the following three
months, her and David spent so

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much time together, and you know, she's trailing Desmond along and it's kind

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of fizzling out because he knows he
can't really compete with David. He's finally

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getting the yeah, I'm paying for
an apartment where a man's living there.

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Yeah. And the sad part too. You know, Desmond is this great

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guy, he's in love with her, and she's in love with a piece

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of shit. Oh yeah, who
who really didn't treat her well? He

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sounds like he was just using her
kind of what she was doing with Desmond,

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and you know, it just started
to spiral out of control. Ruth

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just couldn't stay away from David.
Toxic love. Yeah, even though you

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know she's on this rocky path with
Desmond, but he you know, she

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just couldn't stay away from David.
There was a pretty bad fight between Ruth

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and David on February sixth, nineteen
fifty five. They it became violent and

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physical. Who was violent? They
both were violent with each other. They

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actually when they were done, when
all of a sudden done. They both

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had black eyes. What Yeah,
Ruth was limping, she was bruised.

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And two weeks later, another fight
took place and Ruth ended up with another

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black eye and bruising that would just
went like across both of her shoulders.

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So she she got beaten. Yeah, she got beaten really bad. A

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little over a month later, another
fight took place, and during this one,

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David punched her so hard in the
stomach that it caused her to have

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a miscarriage. Pregnant. Yeah,
she was pregnant, and she was just

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heartbroken because was it's Yeah, it
was David's and she was heartbroken. But

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he always managed to worm his way
back into her. That's a black No,

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Nope, after that happened, he
just he knew how to get back

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into her good graces. He sent
her some flowers, he apologized in the

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same routine. Yeah, it's really
it was really sad, and they went

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they got back together. Their last
night together was April eighth, nineteen fifty

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five. So this has been a
really rocky couple of months. That following

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morning, David had decided, Okay, I'm fully going to commit to Ruth.

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So he asked her to marry him. Oh okay, you know he

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knew this is what she'd been waiting
for this whole time, even though they

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are incredibly abusive and toxic. Yeah. Right, And so along with the

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proposal, he gave her a picture
of himself. Oh that's I know,

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that's so fucking I know, right, How nice of them, And on

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the back of the photograph he had
hand written her a message telling her,

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you know, he was just I
love you so much. It's this adoring

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message, and you know, she
just cherished it. Okay. Before he

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left her that morning, he made
a promise to her that that night they

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were going to go out for drinks
at a place called or excuse me,

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their friends were named the find Ladders. They're going to go over to their

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house, like we're going to after
what the find Ladders. That's their last

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name, that's their last name.
That they were going to go out that

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evening and go over to their friend's
house and have some drinks and celebrate their

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engagement. But he never came back, and when nine point thirty pm rolled

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around, she called over to her
friend's house because maybe you know, he

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went there first and instead of picking
me up, And when the phone was

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answered a night, eighteen year old
nanny answered the phone and she told Ruth

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that nobody was home. Nobody,
nobody. And a little while later Ruth

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called again, and this time someone
else packed picked it up. It was

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the man of the house. His
name was Aunt Finelander, and Ruth asked

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if David was there. He said
no, David wasn't here, and Ruth

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kind of felt like Aunt's wife,
whose name was Carol, was trying to

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influence David in a way that would
turn him against Ruth for some reason,

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like maybe, you know, she
thought that Ruth wasn't good enough for David.

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For the rest of the night,
though, you know, David never

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came home, and they asked,
Hey, how come you guys didn't show

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up? I know, That's what
I wondered. Also, no, like

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I don't know if they really had
a plan. Yeah, I'm wondering.

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I will never know. So Ruth
kept calling looking for answers because David never

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comes home, and eventually they took
the phone off the hook because she called

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so much and she's just knowing them. Yeah, when midnight rolled around,

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now Ruth was like, Okay,
now she can't get a hold of anyone

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at their house. So she ends
up going over there. She was convinced

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David was there for some reason and
that they were lying to her about it.

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When she got there, she walked
up to the front door. She

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rang the doorbell just repeatedly, and
she's banging on the door. Now this

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is midnight, right, Nobody answers
the door. She they have kids too,

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because they got a nanny. She
ended up smashing a window. Yeah,

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and a little out of hand.
She actually it was the window wasn't

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on the house. The window was
on a car that was parked in their

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driveway. And it was a green
Vanguard and it was actually David's car.

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Oh, and so she's like,
why is his car here? Right?

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Why is this car here? Why
are they saying he's not here? Why

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did she smash the window? I
know, I don't in a fit of

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rage. I'm sure because she found
his car there, and and i'd be

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a way to get someone's attention.
Yeah, exactly, Now they'll come outside.

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So she stayed there for hours.
She's outside of their house. Now

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at two am, the police are
called. So Ruth, now, you

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know, I was like, okay, I guess I have to should go

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gain my composure. You know,
I got a little out of control.

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Yeah, I know, I kind
of lost my shit there. But you

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know, she told them, nope, I'm fine, I'm fine, and

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they don't arrest her, which I'm
surprised because she smashed a window. Vandalized.

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Yeah it's vandalized, right, she
vandalized it. So the cops leave

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and Ruth just started up her shit
again. She's knocking on the door,

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pounding on the door, ringing the
doorbell, she's demanding the same night.

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Yeah, I mean, she just
doesn't get it, like David had just

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proposed to her. That's true,
I get that right, like a girl.

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You gotta go home now. Yeah, he's recalled. The police were

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called again, and now finally Ruth
had left before they even got there,

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and she's like, okay, fine, I'm just going to go home.

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The next day, which was Saturday, Ruth called the Fine Ladders again,

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but they they did put the phone
back on the hook, but they just

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stopped answering it. She went to
their house three times around ten am that

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morning. David was there, by
the way, he was the whole time.

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Didn't come out, she knew,
Yeah, he didn't come out even

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when she smashed his windows. I
know, that's what I don't understand it,

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Like, can you imagine, like
this is total gas lighting? T

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this is not okay. I'm sure
she's making she's feeling like, am I

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crazy? Right? Yeah? I
mean she was acting a little Yeah,

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they were going to celebrate and he's
in the house and not coming out.

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Right, David and Aunt's about ten
am. Like I said, David and

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Aunt go outside going to finally like
check out the damage that Ruth has done

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to the car. But Ruth kind
of she was in the neighborhood and she

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saw them come out of the house
and they notice her. She's in her

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00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:15.720
car. So she's like, oh
shit, they saw me. So she

206
00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.960
speeds away and she came back about
two pm and she sat in her car

207
00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:26.519
and she's just stewing confront them,
right, I know, she's just stewing.

208
00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:29.519
Now it's been a few you know, now this is I spent a

209
00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:33.440
day like what the fuck is going
on? And she just you know,

210
00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:41.360
there she's driving herself crazy with all
these thoughts that she's having. She just

211
00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:45.600
really had a bad feeling that you
know, David's still there, and she

212
00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:49.879
just started thinking that he's having an
affair with the nanny. This is why

213
00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:55.360
he's over there. Like she just
starts letting her mind run away with her.

214
00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:59.440
Didn't she just go home? I
know, I'm asleep, I know,

215
00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:03.200
sleep girl. She did. She
was like, okay, I like

216
00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:04.359
you said, I just have to
go home and take a break. But

217
00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:11.160
she did show up four times that
day, and the last time when she

218
00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:15.359
showed up, she noticed that the
Fine Ladders were having a party. A

219
00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:19.200
party. Yeah, the windows were
open. I'm surprised they'd have a party

220
00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:23.440
knowing that they're being st I know, like maybe they couldn't cancel it.

221
00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:27.960
I don't know. The windows were
open. So Ruth is listening. There's

222
00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:33.440
music playing, people talking and laughing, and oh yeah, she just was

223
00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:41.200
living seething, like she just the
jealousy, the rage is just coursing through

224
00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:45.920
her body. You know. She
was like, you know, after everything

225
00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.119
I've done for David, I supported
is broke ass. I mean, he

226
00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:52.160
doesn't really broke, but she was
paying all the bills. You know,

227
00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:56.279
he he caused me to lose my
job, I lost my apartment. You

228
00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:59.799
know, my kids have gone through
all this bullshit. And he said he

229
00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.559
want to marry me. Yeah,
Annie said he wanted to marry her andie

230
00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:06.359
cause her to have a miscarriage with
their child. Now yeah, yeah,

231
00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:12.079
son, asshole. She one of
the times when she stopped home, she

232
00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:17.799
had drank a bit, so she's
also drunk when she shows up, and

233
00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:22.799
she had taken a triquilizer, also
taking a pill to kind of deal with

234
00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:26.839
everything. And here she is,
she's feeling like she's on the edge of

235
00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:32.559
a nervous breakdown and here's David just
partying his ass off, probably having sex

236
00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:37.920
with the nanny is what she's thinking. And she's just beside herself. So

237
00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:41.000
she decides she's gonna go home again
and you know, maybe like try to

238
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:47.079
calm down. But even though,
you know, she gets home, but

239
00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:52.640
this jealousy is just eating away at
her. So the following day was April

240
00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:56.799
tenth, nineteen fifty five. It
was Easter Sunday. She took a little

241
00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:00.119
drive to Hampstead. Now this story
I didn't tell you take place in England.

242
00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:04.519
It's a UK story. So she
takes this drive to Hampstead and she's

243
00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:11.319
going to wait outside for David who's
in a bar. He was having a

244
00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:15.799
few drinks with her friends. How
she knew. I'm not sure, but

245
00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.000
she this might have been a place
he frequented a lot. So he came

246
00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:22.519
outside of the bar about nine thirty
and she saw him. She saw him,

247
00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:25.599
and she called out his name.
She's like, oh, hey David,

248
00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:29.319
Yeah, oh hey David. He
hears her because I don't think she's

249
00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:34.759
very far away, but he ignores
her. And the next few events,

250
00:19:36.039 --> 00:19:37.799
you know, because she's like,
Okay, I'm not going to be ignored

251
00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:45.640
because I'm I demand, I demand
to answer right before I tell you more.

252
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:51.519
We're going to take a break.
So, to the shock of everyone,

253
00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:56.720
Ruth pulls out a thirty eight caliber
smith and lesson, Holy shit,

254
00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:00.240
she is not going to be ignored, no, and she fires it at

255
00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:06.960
David. He starts to run,
and now she's chasing him with the stun.

256
00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:11.559
She's lost it. She fires her
second shot and this one lands and

257
00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:15.759
hits David and he falls to the
ground. Shot him in the back,

258
00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:22.920
but she then walks over to him
as he's on the ground, and she

259
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:30.400
shoots him again and again and again, three more shots, and one of

260
00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:34.359
the shots left gunpowder burns on the
skin of his back. So she was

261
00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:41.839
very close when she fired that shot. She ended up emptying this cylinder of

262
00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:48.559
all the bullets in the Smith and
Wesson, but upon shooting the sixth and

263
00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:55.759
final bullet, she continued like.
Patrons reported at the police later that she

264
00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:59.039
was still firing because they could hear
the clicks. Oh, she just like,

265
00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:00.680
I don't even care if there's a
bullet. Nope, I'm getting you.

266
00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:07.759
Nope, I'm out of right.
She's just yeah, she's consumed with

267
00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:12.599
anger and jealousy. The sixth bullet
that came, actually it didn't hit David.

268
00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:18.480
It bounced off the road and hit
a bystander whose name was missus Yule.

269
00:21:19.480 --> 00:21:22.200
It hit't a weird place. It
hit her in the thumb, and

270
00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:26.400
she was walking into the bar.
I know, it's kind of but he

271
00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:30.119
hit by a bullet. I guess, I guess, and I think it's

272
00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:33.839
a thirty eight. It's a pretty
big bullet. I don't know if Missus

273
00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:37.160
Yule had a thumb after that,
but I guess, like you said,

274
00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:41.559
it's alive, right, and it
wasn't, you know, in a delicate

275
00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:48.720
place. Right as David is lying
in the street now bleeding, Ruth calmly

276
00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:53.319
walks over to a man that is
staring in horror at this, and she

277
00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:56.119
hands him the gun. Here you
go. I'd be like, no,

278
00:21:56.200 --> 00:22:00.519
thanks, yeah, and this and
just so happened to be an off duty

279
00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:07.200
police officer. His name was Alan
Thompson. Okay. Upon receiving the gun,

280
00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:11.519
Ruth asked him, will you call
the police, and he's like,

281
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.839
well, guess what, girl,
I am the police, right and I'm

282
00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:19.079
assuming somebody else would have already called, but I would think. But upon

283
00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:25.720
hearing that he is a police officer, she asked if he could please arrest

284
00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:32.000
her. She's done, done,
yeah, exactly, take me away.

285
00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:37.319
So she was taken to the Hampstead
Police station and David was still alive.

286
00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:42.240
Believe it or not. He was
taken to the closest hospital. He was

287
00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:48.559
pronounced dead on arrival, so he
was lost before he got to the hospital.

288
00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:53.720
His body was taken to the Hampstead
Public Mortuary so that an autopsy could

289
00:22:53.759 --> 00:23:03.599
be performed, and two of the
bullets that had caused the most damage it

290
00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:07.880
pierced his body caused hemorrhaging. I'm
thinking it grazed his heart. That was

291
00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:14.720
one of the bullets that did the
most damage, and he ended up just

292
00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:21.279
bleeding to death. At the police
station. Well internally, probably externally too,

293
00:23:21.799 --> 00:23:25.200
may not know a lot about damage. But anyway, at the police

294
00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:32.599
station, three detectives questioned Ruth without
a lawyer present. She didn't ask for

295
00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:34.680
one, and you know, the
police don't have to furnish you one.

296
00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:38.559
You didn't have Miranda rights because you're
in the fifties and it's in England,

297
00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:41.880
so I don't know what their equivalent
of the Marinda rights are. But yeah,

298
00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:45.960
you're probably right because that didn't happen
till what the sixties or seventies,

299
00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:52.039
Yeah, the Miranda case. As
she's being interviewed by the police, she

300
00:23:52.119 --> 00:23:57.680
says to the detective, I'm guilty. I shot him. And she said

301
00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:03.200
she had the gun in her per
when she first went to the fine Lander's

302
00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:07.359
home. Oh the first day.
Yeah, the first day. Police asked

303
00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:10.440
her, well, what did you
plan on doing with the gun at the

304
00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:14.039
Fine Ladders and she said, well, I planned on finding David and shooting

305
00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:17.519
him. Oh. So I imagine
that if David had come out of the

306
00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:19.359
house he would have died. He
probably would have died. So they did

307
00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:23.599
a smart thing mm hmm by staying
inside. So she made a full confession

308
00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:29.279
and the police had tons of eyewitnesses. Anyway, I was clear. Yeah.

309
00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:33.200
On April eleventh, nineteen fifty five, which was the day after the

310
00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:37.240
shooting, Ruth was charged with David's
murder. In her final statement, she

311
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:41.559
said that on the day that she
murdered David, she had been drinking at

312
00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:48.240
Desmond's apartment and he was the one
that had given her the gun. Okay.

313
00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:53.519
After he gave her the gun,
he took her out to a nearby

314
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:57.319
forest called Epping Forest so that he
could teach her how to shoot it right,

315
00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:02.000
how to use it. Okay.
When she made her first appearance in

316
00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:07.079
court, she still didn't have an
attorney. And you know, they didn't

317
00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:11.359
have a court appointed attorney. No, I don't know why. I don't

318
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:12.920
know why. I don't I don't
know what was going on in the fifties

319
00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:19.720
in another country. She they reigned
her, They placed a trial date,

320
00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:26.640
They make a trial date, and
she goes to jail. She was questioned

321
00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:33.200
by health mental health care professionals and
she was determined that she had no signs

322
00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:37.680
of any mental illness. No,
she just snapped, oh yeah, and

323
00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:44.839
you know, she told I think
she ends up getting a court appointed attorney.

324
00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:47.599
Because she does end up rejecting,
like they want to go for the

325
00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:55.519
insanity plea, I mean temporary yeah, or like a yeah, definitely had

326
00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:59.200
a passion. That's like third degree, right, that's like a manslaughter.

327
00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:04.519
So but she refused any insanity plea
in order to reduce her sentence. You

328
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:11.839
know, she was like something right, diminished capacity, You're right, she

329
00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:18.440
was that. She didn't even tell
the police to that Desmond was the one

330
00:26:18.440 --> 00:26:22.119
that drove her to the the pub
that David was at that he shot her

331
00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:26.519
at. He you know, she
just didn't want to get Desmond in any

332
00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:34.400
trouble. At one point, there's
an adjournment because she does get legal representation.

333
00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:40.680
They try to convince her to plead
guilty to manslaughter, to take a

334
00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:47.559
plea to get a lesser sentence to
death. Yeah exactly. I mean,

335
00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:52.079
like we've just discussed, I mean, heat, a passion is a yeah,

336
00:26:52.119 --> 00:27:00.559
it is a circumstance and exactly,
but she refuses, but granted a

337
00:27:00.599 --> 00:27:06.039
forty day adjournment. Ruth was sent
back to prison, and however, her

338
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:11.880
defense team never was able to convince
her to take a guilty plea on a

339
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:15.319
lesser charge. I don't know why
like what about for her kids, I

340
00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.880
know, right, and their dad. They ended up obviously being sent to

341
00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:25.200
their dad when she gets arrested.
But she just I don't know if she's

342
00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:27.200
trying to like punish herself. Yeah, that's what it sounds like. Yeah,

343
00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:33.039
I'm guilty, I'll deal with the
consequences. And her trial only lasted

344
00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:38.200
a day and a half and it
and I don't know why she's having a

345
00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:45.640
trial if she's accepting like that she
did it. Sentencing Yeah maybe, Yeah,

346
00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:48.319
you're right, it could have been
her sentencing because if she's saying I

347
00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:52.920
did it and there's no not guilty
plea, I mean, there's no point.

348
00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:56.720
Trends. Yeah, it was a
media circus, as you can imagine,

349
00:27:56.759 --> 00:28:00.240
because, as a kind of indicated
at the start of our show,

350
00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:03.720
I mean usually when you hear like, oh, this red hot love affair

351
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:07.480
and somebody died, you usually think
that a man is the killer. I'm

352
00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:12.480
sorry to be stereotypical, but I
mean, I mean, yeah, I

353
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:17.720
mean a lot of times it is
right. I mean, of course there's

354
00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:22.920
tons of women who murder, but
like, to me, it's just what

355
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:26.680
I think of when I hear the
circumstance initially, Yeah, so, and

356
00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:33.039
Ruth was only about twenty eight years
old. She was considered to be beautiful.

357
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:37.319
Like I said, she went to
modeling school and she was getting modeling

358
00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:41.599
jobs and she kind of had like
a Marilyn Monroe look like she had the

359
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:47.200
platinum blonde and she kind of had
that hairdo. When I saw a picture

360
00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:49.000
of her, initially, I couldn't
believe she was only twenty eight. I

361
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:53.000
mean it's yeah, she looked older
just and I think it's probably the hairstyle,

362
00:28:53.400 --> 00:28:57.799
makeup or something. I mean that
looked like she was eighty, right,

363
00:28:57.799 --> 00:29:03.480
and she's forty exactly like seventies.
I mean yeah, like I think,

364
00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:07.759
like sometimes I think we've all learned
to look a little bit like I

365
00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:10.359
don't know, younger might not be
the right word. Maybe maybe we're looking

366
00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:15.640
at real age and back then they
just looked older. But yeah, so

367
00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:21.759
she I think this and she's a
woman. It's just sensationalize woman with gone

368
00:29:21.799 --> 00:29:26.720
just out yeah and you know then
yeah exactly like you know he's with someone

369
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.279
else and he's you know, gonna
die kind of thing. So this trial

370
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:34.559
lasted a day and a half,
and I tell you, it's a media

371
00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:38.319
circus and there's just tons of people
who want to come and watch, right,

372
00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:41.759
so they end up you had to
get a ticket. A ticket,

373
00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:48.519
yeah, a ticket. They were
a stub Hub or something ticket master and

374
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:52.680
exactly, and people who are scalping
them you fucked no. And the highest

375
00:29:52.680 --> 00:29:56.799
price at the time was like thirty
pounds, which is a little less than

376
00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:00.680
sixty bucks. So I mean,
back nineteen fifty five, that was a

377
00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:03.480
lot of money. Right, it's
even kind of a little bit of money

378
00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:11.160
now like sixty ticket. It's crazy. It's crazy, Okay. So eventually

379
00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:15.640
some of them went as high as
like four hundred dollars. Wow. Yeah,

380
00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:22.240
so people were just inside the courtroom, you know. During this trial,

381
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:27.119
Ruth was dressed in a black two
piece suit with a white blouse,

382
00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:32.920
and some people say she looked very
chic. Her hair had been freshly bleached,

383
00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:36.680
Like I said, she was a
platinum blonde, kind of like Marilyn

384
00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.240
asked, why does it even matter
what she looks like? At this point,

385
00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:45.119
I don't know. I'm what's it. Yeah, it's gonna get sentenced

386
00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:48.759
to death, I know. But
people are like, oh, she looks

387
00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:53.319
like she's a Hollywood you star.
The thing for her defense team. Their

388
00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:59.400
whole argument was that, you know, she's just beaten down, and she's

389
00:30:59.480 --> 00:31:03.960
down on her And as she walked
into the courtroom, someone in the gallery

390
00:31:04.039 --> 00:31:10.920
yelled out blonde tart. Oh.
And it was also said that when someone

391
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.160
accused her of the murder, she
said, thanks, I don't know,

392
00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:21.119
it's kind of unhinged to me.
Thanks. Yeah, we kind of mentioned

393
00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:26.839
earlier that she was I kind mentioned
earlier, you know, she has this

394
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:30.920
trial. At the trial, she
was able to tell her side of the

395
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:37.319
story and she just said, you
know, I was treated badly by David

396
00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:45.720
and I just had had enough and
I just kind of snapped. So the

397
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:52.000
prosecution, Uh, the name of
the attorney was Christmas Humphreyes, and that

398
00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:56.440
a great name, Christmas Humphrey.
Christmas Humphreyes. He had already been involved

399
00:31:56.559 --> 00:32:04.039
in some high profile cases. He
was an experienced litigator. He made the

400
00:32:04.079 --> 00:32:07.640
case. You know, he kind
of rebutted what she had to say by

401
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:14.319
just bringing witnesses and the defense only
cross examined two of them. Yeah,

402
00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:21.079
and so the defense team was made
up of attorneys who the public had paid

403
00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:25.079
for public public defenders, so you
know, sometimes they don't have a ton

404
00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:30.519
of experience. When it was time
for her to finally take the stand.

405
00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:37.279
Her attorney's whole argument was when she
first fired the gun, she was emotionally

406
00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:42.680
upset do to you know, just
the severe treatment. I mean, like

407
00:32:42.680 --> 00:32:45.640
I said, they were physical with
each other and she would have bruises,

408
00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:53.160
heat of passion. Yeah, kind
of testimony from her. Yeah, And

409
00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:57.279
she tried to make you know,
he tried to make her like a good

410
00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:04.720
impression on the jury, but he
couldn't really undo right, right, you

411
00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:09.880
can't undo the fact that she shot
him six times or whatever and took up

412
00:33:10.519 --> 00:33:15.240
the thumb of yeah, missus yule, or yeah, missus yule. And

413
00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:19.640
he's really trying to turn her into
a sympathetic person to the jury. But

414
00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:23.119
she kind of when she answered,
she was just there was really no sign,

415
00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:29.119
like emotional sign, like she didn't
play up any kind of stereotypical behavior

416
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:36.160
or anything. She's just very in
control of her answers and seemed rational,

417
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:43.519
which is what her defention did not
want her to act like. When she

418
00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:49.880
was cross examined by the prosecution,
Christmas Humphries only asked her one question and

419
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:54.359
he said, miss ellis when you
fired the revolver at close range into the

420
00:33:54.400 --> 00:34:00.160
body of David Blakely, What did
you intend to do? Kill him?

421
00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:04.880
And she said this was her answer, it was obvious that when I shot

422
00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:08.960
him, I intended to kill him. Okay, like prosecution rests her on

423
00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:13.639
it, like, okay, you're
done. The next day, the jury

424
00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:16.760
left the courtroom to deliberate, and
it took them only twenty three minutes to

425
00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:22.480
find her guilty of murder. It
was never mentioned at any point during her

426
00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:28.320
trial that you know, she suffered
a miscarriage at the hands of David just

427
00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:34.039
ten days prior to her shooting them. It was never mentioned that he abused

428
00:34:34.039 --> 00:34:37.480
her physically on a regular basis.
He had just proposed and then done all

429
00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:42.880
the like yeah, and it's ghosted
her, ghosted her, I mean,

430
00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:47.000
yeah, viciously, Like who does
that. The judge really felt like he

431
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:52.440
had no choice to sentence her to
death, knew what she was. After

432
00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:57.119
sentencing, the judge asked her if
she had anything to say, and the

433
00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:01.320
only thing she said was thank you. So I don't know, thank you.

434
00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:06.719
Yeah. After sentencing was past some
kids, I know that's what I'm

435
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:08.840
good. I don't know. I
think I feel like maybe she just gave

436
00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:15.039
up. I don't know. She
remained really calm. Even after the sentencing,

437
00:35:16.679 --> 00:35:21.079
she turned around to smile at her
parents, her brother, and her

438
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:24.880
sister. They were in the gallery. She was then placed in a van

439
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:32.639
and sent to Holloway Prison to await
her death sentence. From the moment she

440
00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:38.360
killed David until the moment she was
actually executed, she never sought percy.

441
00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:46.480
She never tried to feel She thought
that she deserved the death sentence, kind

442
00:35:46.519 --> 00:35:51.239
of like what we talked about earlier, because she did kill someone. She

443
00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:54.280
knew what she did. I mean, and maybe not at the moment,

444
00:35:54.280 --> 00:36:00.719
because I'm thinking if she's so like
enraged, you're not thinking right. But

445
00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:02.519
I think like when you when you
do something like that, you're kind of

446
00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:06.719
like, Okay, I'm probably gonna
be sentenced to death, even though I

447
00:36:06.760 --> 00:36:09.519
really think she could have gotten a
lesser sentence had she tried. Yeah,

448
00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:15.079
had she tried. She told her
attorneys do not seek any kind of appeal,

449
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:22.719
and before her sentence was to be
carried out, she was allowed to

450
00:36:22.760 --> 00:36:27.360
see her family one last time.
Her brother noted that she was really calm.

451
00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.280
She was didn't seem afraid that she
was going to be dying imminently soon,

452
00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:37.239
I mean the next day. She's
much different than me. I know

453
00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:39.840
I would be crying, I'd be
carrying on. Can you call a governor?

454
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:45.920
Right? Yeah? Please please,
somebody do something. And at the

455
00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:54.559
time, England's method of execution was
hanging still and Ruth was actually the last

456
00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:01.039
woman to be hanged in England.
But in preparation for her hanging, they

457
00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:05.679
took her weight with clothes and she
only weighed one hundred and three pounds.

458
00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:09.880
Tiny, you know, she was
tiny. An eight foot four inch drop

459
00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:16.360
was set in the gallow. They
tested it out before she was brought to

460
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:23.199
her spot with sandbags. They were
going to ask Yeah, they had a

461
00:37:23.239 --> 00:37:28.079
sand volunteer. They had no,
not a volunteer. They had a sand

462
00:37:28.119 --> 00:37:36.360
bag that weighed exactly one hundred and
three pounds and they were left over overnight,

463
00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:39.039
attached to the rope that was to
hang her, And that was done

464
00:37:39.320 --> 00:37:45.400
in order to prevent like stretching,
like it was already being stretched, so

465
00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:50.079
that I guess when she was dropped, you know, there wouldn't be any

466
00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:53.320
mishaps. They want the net break, yes, they don't want them just

467
00:37:53.400 --> 00:37:59.760
dangling, yeah, dangling. Yeah, I know, it's very very morbid.

468
00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:04.920
Yeah, very antiquated, I mean
okay. On the morning of her

469
00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:08.280
execution, she wrote a letter to
David's mother and in the letter, she

470
00:38:08.360 --> 00:38:14.400
apologized for killing him and said,
quote, I've always loved your son and

471
00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:20.039
I shall die loving him. End
quote. Around six thirty am, a

472
00:38:20.119 --> 00:38:24.559
priest took her last and final confession
and gave her last writes. She then

473
00:38:24.679 --> 00:38:30.239
wrote a think you note to her
lawyer. She did have a team of

474
00:38:30.280 --> 00:38:34.920
lawyers, but there was one that
she really trusted and liked, and that's

475
00:38:34.960 --> 00:38:39.159
the one that she wrote the letter
to. His name was Leanne Simmons.

476
00:38:40.159 --> 00:38:45.639
About nine point thirty, Ruth was
given a glass of brandy. Oh,

477
00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:51.079
to stabilize her nerves. Right,
giving her the glass by a doctor more

478
00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:53.320
than one glass. Oh man,
I'd need like the whole bottle, right

479
00:38:53.559 --> 00:38:59.880
please. She drinks the brandy,
and not a minute later, the execution

480
00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:05.440
walked into her cell. When he
walked in, she smiled at him.

481
00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:09.800
Her hands were bound around her back
with a leather strap, and then she

482
00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:16.000
walked the fifteen feet to the gallows. Breathe, I know anxiety. She

483
00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:22.559
didn't say anything as she walked over
to the trap. Door and the cotton

484
00:39:22.599 --> 00:39:29.360
hood was placed over her hud oh
Lord. The executioner's assistant then wrapped a

485
00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:36.280
leather strap around her legs and the
trap door was open, and Ruth was

486
00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:40.519
dead within less than fifteen seconds,
so it was relative. Fifteen seconds is

487
00:39:40.519 --> 00:39:44.800
a long time though, right,
Well, yeah, her neck's gonna snap.

488
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:47.119
Yeah, so she's gonna I mean, you're still gonna have a pulse

489
00:39:47.119 --> 00:39:52.440
for a little bit while your blood
goes. Yeah, that's true. But

490
00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:58.719
yeah, wow, yeah, wow, that's just crazy. I know.

491
00:40:00.599 --> 00:40:02.000
You know, as you mentioned,
she had two children. She left them

492
00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:07.519
behind, her son Andy at the
time of her execution, he was about

493
00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:12.880
ten, and her daughter Georgina was
three. Her ex husband's name was George,

494
00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:16.239
so Georgina was named after him,
and like I mentioned, Ruth was

495
00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:22.360
only twenty eight years old at the
time of her hanging. Sadly, though,

496
00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:24.480
the story doesn't end there. There's
even more tragedy for this family.

497
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:31.639
George ellis her ex husband. He
died by suicide. He hung himself as

498
00:40:31.719 --> 00:40:36.639
well. He hanged himself, hanged
himself, hung himself, hanging, tanged

499
00:40:36.760 --> 00:40:39.559
thank you on August second, nineteen
fifty eight. So how wait, what

500
00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:44.880
year did she fifty five, so
it's only three years later later. And

501
00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:51.199
her mother, Bertha Nielsen, was
found in nineteen sixty nine unconscious in a

502
00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:53.800
gas filled room in her apartment.
So she committed suicide too. Well,

503
00:40:53.840 --> 00:41:00.440
she survived, but she never really
recovered in that she couldn't speak after that.

504
00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:02.360
I think it may be damaged that
part of her brain. Wow.

505
00:41:06.039 --> 00:41:09.960
I mentioned that Ruth said that Desmond
had given her the gun. Yeah,

506
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:15.039
he always denied that he gave her
the gun. I know it wasn't me.

507
00:41:15.079 --> 00:41:17.880
I didn't give it to her.
And he emigrated to Australia and died

508
00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:23.599
in nineteen ninety one. In two
thousand and three, after a posthumous appeal

509
00:41:23.639 --> 00:41:30.840
was brought by her sister Monica,
the appeals Court concluded that it was right

510
00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:35.840
to have convicted her a first degree
murder, so the appeal was denied.

511
00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:39.079
Yeah, her execution, like I
told you, she was the last woman

512
00:41:39.159 --> 00:41:45.840
to be executed in the UK by
hanging. Her execution played a major part

513
00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:51.679
in the movement to just completely abolish
the death penalty in England, although it

514
00:41:51.719 --> 00:41:55.719
really took like another decade after her
death to for the lot to be changed.

515
00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:05.159
You know, the one of the
newspapers in defense of abolishing the death

516
00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:09.800
penalty had said, quote, consider
the task of explaining to the late Miss

517
00:42:09.880 --> 00:42:15.119
Ruth Ellis's eleven year old son,
now at boarding school, what had happened.

518
00:42:15.760 --> 00:42:20.840
This boy, who is also fatherless, has had something done to him

519
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:25.280
that's so brutal. It's difficult to
imagine. We should realize it. It's,

520
00:42:25.800 --> 00:42:30.639
you know, something that should be
realized. Perhaps the most haunting part

521
00:42:30.840 --> 00:42:42.280
of what's included I'm sorry of the
new law is that or the effect that

522
00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:47.760
it had on her son Andy,
was that he made audio tapes later in

523
00:42:47.800 --> 00:42:55.199
life and he managed to interview Ruth's
prosecutor because I think he just became obsessed

524
00:42:55.280 --> 00:42:58.679
as I got older. I mean, it's hard to lose your mom,

525
00:42:58.880 --> 00:43:04.800
right, and you don't know what's
going on on your Yeah, and he

526
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:10.360
said that the that the prosecutor described
his mother as cold blooded. Oh,

527
00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:14.880
and Andy didn't feel that way.
No, it didn't feel that way.

528
00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:23.239
And he actually committed suicide in nineteen
eighty two. But yeah, So that

529
00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:30.119
is really my sad story of jealousy
and rage and was losing it, losing

530
00:43:30.159 --> 00:43:34.719
it and then the after effects of
something that happens. I mean, that

531
00:43:34.840 --> 00:43:38.960
was just something horrific. Yeah,
and you can see the effects on other

532
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:44.400
people, right right, Like I'm
not sure why George, you know,

533
00:43:44.440 --> 00:43:49.920
her ex husband did it, but
I mean I think her son was just

534
00:43:50.800 --> 00:43:55.000
riddled with grief and I don't know
he was in the kids went into the

535
00:43:55.000 --> 00:44:00.679
foster care system too at one point, and I'm sure you know there was

536
00:44:00.840 --> 00:44:04.960
Oh man, this is a pisser. Yeah, I know, I know.

537
00:44:06.559 --> 00:44:10.159
Okay, So well, thanks for
everyone for listening to today's story.

538
00:44:10.840 --> 00:44:15.039
Yeah, it's very sad, and
if you haven't already, please hit to

539
00:44:15.159 --> 00:44:21.480
like our subscribe button, follow whatever
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540
00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:25.840
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541
00:44:25.920 --> 00:44:30.400
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542
00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:37.599
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543
00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:42.599
You can subscribe through Apple Podcasts as
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544
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545
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546
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exclusive to members only, so until
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547
00:44:59.639 --> 00:45:05.119
True I'm daily for hosting us,
and we appreciate and adore all of you

548
00:45:05.239 --> 00:45:09.960
that are taking the time to write
positive things and watch us and listen.

549
00:45:10.719 --> 00:45:23.519
So do us a favor. Don't
kill each other. Bye bye