THIS week judges upheld the conviction of murder for Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, after she shot her lover, from Penn, five times.

Their tempestuous relationship was spent in Bucks pubs and hotel rooms before eventually leading to a cold blooded killing on Easter Sunday 1955. VINCE SOODIN reports.
WHEN Ruth Ellis walked into a north London pub and shot dead her lover, many at the time would not know the infamous murder would still be making headlines into the next century.

The judgement on Monday may now bring down the final curtain on the story of the last woman to hang in Britain, which started after an affair between the nightclub hostess and Penn man David Blakely.

The pair had secret rendezvous in the village before being reunited in the Chilterns in death, in graves only a few miles apart.

Ellis had no connection with Buckinghamshire before meeting 24-year-old Blakely, a car enthusiast and member of London driving clubs where Ellis worked, in 1953.

Blakely lived with his parents in Hammersley Lane and would drive 27-year-old Ellis to Penn but never let her meet his family.

Prestwood author David Kidd-Hewitt covered the Ellis murder in his book Buckinghamshire Tales of Mystery and Murder, published in October.

The author says Blakely's actions led Ellis to becoming suspicious he had another woman and eventually to his death.

The couple's relationship in Bucks was nurtured in The Crown pub in Witheridge Road, Penn, but Blakely avoided the pub for The Red Lion if his mother was in there.

Mr Kidd-Hewitt says: "The frustration Ruth felt at being David's guilty secret from his mother was brought well and truly home to her."

Ellis started a second relationship with 33-year-old Desmond Cussen, who helped her spy on Blakely at various venues including the The Bull Hotel in Gerrards Cross to see if he was having another affair, according to Kidd-Hewitt.

The author also claims that Cussen and Ellis made other trips to Buckinghamshire, where Cussen may have taught Ellis how to shoot a gun in the county's woods.

Ellis's sister Muriel Jakubait, 81, said after the trial: "My sister was provoked and if she did it she was put up to it."

Mr Kidd-Hewitt believes this may have weakened any claims to reduce the charge to manslaugther.

Ellis's final meeting with Blakely came on Easter Sunday 1955 when she confronted him in The Magdala pub, Hampstead, shot him and turned herself into a passing policeman.

Ten days earlier, it is claimed Ellis suffered a miscarriage after Blakely, the baby's father, punched her in the stomach.

Blakely was buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Penn but the rebuilding of Holloway Prison meant a new site had to be found for Ellis.

Her son Andy wanted his mother reunited with Blakely in Penn but the parish vicar, the Rev Oscar Muspratt refused.

Ellis was eventually buried, under her maiden name Hornby, at St Mary's Church in Old Amersham in 1971, the closest her son could get his mother to her former lover.

The grave now lies unmarked after vandals smashed the stone.

The Rev Tim Harvey, at St Mary's, hopes the case will draw a close on the story and allow Ellis and Blakely to rest in peace.

He said: "Every year, many still knock at my rectory door enquiring where Ruth is buried. I ask them as politely as I can to respect the family wish that she be given the repose she deserves. Now the appeal has failed, may I ask that we all allow Ruth Ellis to rest in peace."

Buckinghamshire Tales of Mystery and Murder published by Countryside Books 2003 is £7.95. David Kidd-Hewitt will be signing copies at WHSmith, in High Street, High Wycombe, between 11am and 1pm today.