I'm doing a quick search of the databases I have access to through my university. I found some as full-text PDF and others just as citations. I can email the former to you if you like, and you might be able to look up the latter somewhere local.
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Authors:
Cavendish, Richard
Source:
History Today; Jul2005, Vol. 55 Issue 7, p61-61, 1/2p
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*EXECUTIONS & executioners
*MURDER
Geographic Terms:
GREAT Britain
People:
ELLIS, Ruth
BLAKELY, David
Abstract:
Features Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed for murder in Great Britain in 1955. Overview of her relationship with motor-racing enthusiast David Blakely; Reason Ellis murdered Blakely in April 1955; Details of her execution on July 13, 1955.
Full Text Word Count:
531
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Authors:
Gale, Christopher
James, Annabelle
Source:
Journal of Criminal Law; Apr2004, Vol. 68 Issue 2, p105-109, 5p
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*ACTIONS & defenses (Administrative law)
*HANGING
*PROVOCATION (Criminal law)
*VIOLENCE
*MANSLAUGHTER
People:
ELLIS, Ruth
Abstract:
Discusses the court case involving Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Great Britain. Relationship between Ellis and the victim; Violence of the victim to Ellis; Evidence's inability to support a verdict of guilty to manslaughter on the ground of provocation.
(I have the PDF of this one)
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Authors:
Kopkind, Andrew
Source:
Nation; 11/30/1985, Vol. 241 Issue 18, p595-596, 2p
Document Type:
Entertainment Review
Subject Terms:
*LOVE
*MOTION pictures
Reviews & Products:
DANCE With a Stranger (Film)
NAICS/Industry Codes:
512110 Motion Picture and Video Production
People:
NEWELL, Mike
RICHARDSON, Miranda
DELANEY, Shelagh
Abstract:
The article discusses the motion picture "Dance With a Stranger," directed by Mike Newell, with a screenplay by Shelagh Delaney. Newell treats the squalid love and life of Ruth Ellis, played by Miranda Richardson, as a moral metaphor for an immoral time, not in the petty personal sense of good behavior, but in the larger social sense of human purpose. Style is what holds the picture together, and what ultimately makes it so deeply disturbing. Richardson never compromises with the banality of Ruth's life or the fatuity of her love, never tries to inject a false note of meaning or pretend that underneath that cheap exterior is a soul of sterling.
(I have the PDF of this one, too)
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Authors:
Paine, Donald F.
Source:
Tennessee Bar Journal; Nov2006, Vol. 42 Issue 11, p23-23, 1p
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*BAR associations
*JUDGMENTS
*LAWYERS
*TRIALS (Murder)
Geographic Terms:
LONDON (England)
ENGLAND
NAICS/Industry Codes:
813920 Professional Organizations
541110 Offices of Lawyers
People:
ELLIS, Ruth
BLAKELY, David
Abstract:
The article focuses on the causes why Ruth Ellis, president-elect of Knoxville Bar Association in Tennessee was convicted of murder for shooting his lover, David Blakely in a bar in London, England on April 10, 1955. She was a hostess of an establishment when she met Blakely. Blakely had avoided Ellis the whole Easter weekend despite promises that they would spend it together and this caused her to shoot him. During the trial, she relentlessly accepted that she intended to kill Blakely.
(I have PDF)
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itle:
Lover's abuse 'should clear Ruth Ellis of murder'
Authors:
Patrick Barkham
Source:
Times, The (United Kingdom); 09/17/2003
Accession Number:
7EH0596396771
Persistent link to this record:
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=7EH0596396771&site=ehost-liveDatabase:
Newspaper Source
Full text:
Section: Home news, pg. 12
RUTH ELLIS, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, was driven to kill her
boyfriend by physical abuse and rejection, according to an attempt to overturn
her conviction 48 years after she walked to the gallows.
The 28-year-old nightclub hostess, who killed David Blakely, a racing driver,
on Easter Day, 1955, suffered "battered women's syndrome", the Court of Appeal
in London was told.
Michael Mansfield, QC, argued that the original trial judge wrongly prevented
the jury from considering whether "cumulative provocation" incited her to shoot
Mr Blakely. If so, Ellis could have been found guilty of manslaughter and saved
from the death penalty. He added: "This defendant should at the very least have
the benefit of a fair trial."
The appeal, brought by Ellis's sister Muriel Jakubait, 83, saw the standards
and laws of the 1950s pitched against today's reformed laws and transformed
perceptions of morality. By her day, Ellis led a scandalous life, dyeing her
hair, splitting from her alcoholic husband and consorting with several
boyfriends.
Under cross-examination at the trial, Ellis admitted: "It was obvious that,
when I shot him, I intended to kill him."
As her testimony was read out to a packed Court No 4 yesterday, -which
included Ms Jakubait, a member of the 1955 prosecution counsel and a journalist
who covered the case at the time -Ellis's life seemed less shocking, and the
abuse she suffered more so.
Mr Mansfield argued that in her Old Bailey trial, the judge, Sir Cecil Havers,
erroneously understood that the only provocation that could justify a verdict
of manslaughter was if a husband discovered his wife in bed with a lover and
reacted with fatal fury.
The law was not reformed until 1957 but, according to Mr Mansfield, under the
common law of 1955 the judge should have instructed the jury that they could
find that Ellis was provoked by her violent boyfriend and was guilty of
manslaughter.
But an often sceptical Lord Justice Kay pointed out: "The law to be appealed
is the law of the day."
In 1955 the jury took just 14 minutes to find Ellis guilty of murder after the
mother of two confessed to borrowing a gun after formulating the "peculiar
idea" that she wanted to kill her violent boyfriend.
The Crown said its case against Ellis was one of "stark simplicity". When
Ellis finally realised that Mr Blakely wanted to break off their relationship,
she tracked him down to the Magdala pub in Hampstead, North London, and fired
six bullets, the latter shots aimed from inches away into her boyfriend's prone
body.
The reality, according to Mr Mansfield, was not cold-blooded murder but the
more complicated "long and painful story" of Mr Blakely heaping physical abuse,
humiliation and rejection on Ellis. Despite the nightclub hostess giving up her
job, flat and providing him with money, the court was told how Mr Blakely
regularly beat her up, at one point so badly that she went to hospital.
Afterwards he apologised with flowers and a card and she accepted him back
again, as she feared she always would, Mr Mansfield told the court.
In March 1955 Ellis discovered that she was pregnant with his child. In her
original testimony, read out by Mr Mansfield, Ellis described a fight in which
"David got very, very violent. I don't know whether that caused the miscarriage
or not, but he did thump me in the stomach."
After further rows and splits, Mr Blakely returned to Ellis on the Wednesday
before she murdered him to profess his "undying love" for her. He promised to
marry her.
But then, on Friday morning, he left their flat and, despite arranging to
spend the weekend with Ellis, spent the Easter holiday partying with friends in
Hampstead. Mr Mansfield described how Ellis repeatedly telephoned his house and
called round, but was told by Mr Blakely's friends that he was not in.
Eventually she was removed by police after pushing in the windows of his car.
On Saturday night Ellis sat in an empty house opposite and watched a party
where her boyfriend was cavorting with a nurse. A doctor at the original trial
said: "The situation was now absolutely intolerable for her. She considered he
was being unfaithful at that moment but she was convinced he would return and
she wouldn't be able to resist him."
Mr Blakely's behaviour was the trigger, Mr Mansfield said, for manslaughter,
not murder.
David Perry, for the Crown, said: "Judged by the standards of the day, this
case was carried out in an entirely fair and proper way."
If the Court of Appeal finds that there was a miscarriage of justice, Ms
Jakubait could receive compensation, as could Ellis's six grandchildren. The
case is due to end today.
Copyright (C) The Times, 2003
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Title:
NOT THE FULL STORY: REPRESENTING RUTH ELLIS.
Authors:
Tweg, Sue.
Source:
Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 2000 23(1): 1-28. 28p.
Historical Period:
1955-85
Subjects:
Women
Great Britain
Films
Executions
Ellis, Ruth
Biography
Abstract:
Ruth Ellis (1926-55), the last woman to be hanged in Britain, lingers in the popular imagination in two films, the fictional 'Yield to the Night' (1956) and the Ellis biopic 'Dance with a Stranger' (1985). This article examines how the film medium reworks biographical details to shape and define Ellis herself, her fictional alter ego, and two female film stars. [J]
Publication Type:
Academic Journal
Document Type:
Article
Language:
English
ISSN:
0162-4962
Entry Number:
52:11474
Accession Number:
H001618267.01
That's pretty much all I can find. Let me know if you want me to email you the PDFs I've found (and whether the email address in your profile is the one I should send it to, if so).
Also, I swear I've read that last one, but I have absolutely no idea where. I'll have a bit of a look on the databases I usually haunt and see if I can find the full text of it.
Damn! Thank you sooooooooooooo much! I guess when you live in state 50/50 in education, you can't expect miracles. The email I have is correct, try to check it everyday. Again, thank you. Looks my grade may be saved after all.