The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story

BBC Four HD

2:45 AM to 3:45 AM

Thursday 20 March

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Gillian Pachter focuses on the three weeks leading up to Ruth Ellis's execution, and the last-minute attempts to save her life even though Ruth herself was determined to die. The killer finally admitted she had an accomplice, prompting her solicitor to race to the Home Office in a bid to stop the execution. But it was all in vain and Ruth was hanged. Gillian goes on to explore the role of her case in the introduction of the defence of diminished responsibility in England and its place in the eventual abolition of capital punishment in 1965