I think one problem was that she was dressed as a hostess I think in court. Justice Baroness Butler-Sloss
Her defence was pretty meagre to say the least ... There was quite a lot that didn’t come out in court that would have helped her. Professor David Wilson
It’s obvious: when I fired the gun I intended to kill him. Ruth Ellis
On June 21st Ruth Ellis was found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey and sentenced to death in accordance with the law ... Ruth Ellis had to die ... Three questions remain: should a woman hang? Should anyone hang at all? Or should there be degrees of murder? Pathé News
I didn’t feel right in hanging this woman. Albert Pierrepoint, hangman
Hampstead: Easter Sunday 1955: In cold blood Ruth Ellis had shot her lover David Blakely dead with a revolver. They’d been lovers for eighteen months. The law was clear: if Ruth Ellis was found guilty she would suffer the death penalty. Ruth Ellis’ case became a sensation. Rough Justice: Ruth Ellis: A Life for a Life, BBC 1999
A woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown: violently abused and sorely provoked she was then ill-served not only by the solicitor who took her case and by her Queen’s Counsel but also by the Home Secretary of the day: he disregarded the evidence which could have saved her. Ruth Ellis should not have suffered the hangman’s noose. ibid.
Ruth Ellis: She is known for being the last woman hanged in Britain … The shockwaves created by her case helped change the law. The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story I, BBC 2018
Ruth’s crime sounds like a scene from classic film noir. Right down to the Smith & Weston gun that she used. ibid.
She says that David hit her in the ear so hard that she went temporarily deaf. She also refers to an abortion or miscarriage that happened two to four weeks before the shooting. ibid.
Domestic violence was treated as a private affair rather than a legal matter. ibid.
These experts put Desmond at the scene. ibid.
They didn’t fully investigate Ruth’s motive or where she got the murder weapon. And they never interviewed her daughter Andrea who could have provided key information. The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story II
The appointment of Ruth’s solicitor … complex and shadowy. ibid.
The now defunct Women’s Sunday Mirror was the paper that bought and published Ruth’s story entitled My Love and Hate. ibid.
‘On two occasions David had nearly strangled me.’ ibid. Ruth
The miscarriage Ruth suffered after David punched her in the stomach. ibid.
14 minutes – that’s it? – and no recommendation to mercy? ibid.
She may have been suffering from mental illness. ibid.
In 1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover to death and stood trial for murder. The decision to execute this twenty-eight year old, a mother of two children, fuelled what was already a fierce debate over capital punishment. Crime & Punishment: A Timewatch Guide, BBC 2019
Holloway was the largest women’s prison in Europe. For over 100 years it was synonymous with Britain’s most notorious female criminals: women whose crimes truly shocked the nation, like Ruth Ellis, who changed history. And Cynthia Payne who was sent down but who robbed the establishment. We uncover the scandals hidden away behind Holloway’s walls. Inside Holloway: Women Behind Bars, Channel 5 2020
Ruth Ellis: she had been charged with the murder of his lover, David Blakely … He was the latest in a long line of troubled relationships with men … Blakely was a violent and possessive man … Ruth Ellis was hanged. Ruth Ellis was buried in Holloway’s grounds, and her death triggered a national debate. ibid.
ENDERS, PATRICE murder: Unsolved Mysteries TV -
15 April 2004: The rest of her [Patrice Endres] shop was unremarkable … You’d would never walk in there and say, this is a crime scene. Unsolved Mysteries s1e2: 13 Minutes, rozzer, Netflix 2020
It’s crucial we understand what happened in that 13 minutes. ibid.
When Jeremy Jones started to confess to these different murders, he talked about how he needed to tell us about a hairdresser in Georgia … I believe he is a strong possibility for Patrice’s murder. ibid.
ENGLAND, CECIL LOIS: see TRUNK MURDERS
ENTWISTLE, NEIL: Real Crime TV - Entwistle: Smile of a Killer & Murder Files TV - Neil Entwistle - Martha Coakley - Faking It: Tears of a Crime TV -
On the marathon transatlantic phone call Neil Entwistle would pour out one of the most extraordinary stories in recent criminal history. Real Crime with Mark Austin s8e5: The Man Who Didn’t Cry, ITV 2009
A single bullet but with two victims. Right from the outset this case promised to be one of the most bizarre these investigators had ever encountered. ibid.
Neil Entwistle stood accused of murdering his wife and nine-month-old baby daughter. He would face a succession of court appearances before his trial in June 2008. ibid.
It seemed incredible when a young husband was arrested for shooting the wife and baby daughter he appeared to idolise. More incredibly still – his reaction when confronted with video of his murdered family. Entwistle: Smile of a Killer aka Murder Files: Killer on the Run, Channel 5 2012
Could he really shoot a mother and baby, and then laugh at what he’d done? ibid.
In his absence [US] Lily [Lillian] and Rachel were buried. ibid.
In 2006 British computer scientist Neil Entwistle had been extradited to America accused of murdering his wife and nine-month-old baby daughter. ibid.
Why would I do that? Neil Entwistle
On Thursday night (19 January 2006), Rachel was alive and had spoken with family members.
At some time on Friday morning, Neil Entwistle – with a firearm we believe he had secured at some time before that from father-in-law Joseph Materazzo – shot Rachel Entwistle in the head and then proceeded to shoot baby Lillian, who was lying on the bed next to her mother.
We believe possibly this was intended to be a murder-suicide, but we cannot confirm that. Obviously the murder was effected, but the suicide was not.
What we believe happened next was that Neil Entwistle returned the gun to his father-in-law’s home in Carver, then made preparations to leave the country. As we know, he was observed at Logan International Airport.