9781422284018

With this borrowed Smith and Wesson, Ruth Ellis murdered her lover. A revolver was a rare weapon for a woman, especially in 1950s London. But there were many guns in circulation at the time, because men had failed to hand in service revolvers after World War II.

offered to marry her, but Ellis, with an illegitimate daughter and a failed marriage behind her, decided to end the relationship. Blakely, highly emotional, would not

Sara Thornton leaves Oxford Crown Court during her retrial. Her original murder conviction, for stabbing her abusive husband, was quashed because her personality disorder had not been considered. At the retrial, she was sentenced to five years for manslaughter . let her go, and by 1955, they were living together, although she was seeing other lovers, and he began drinking heavily. After a short trial, the jury took barely 14 minutes to find her guilty of murder. It was a disquieting case that led many more people to support the abolition of the death penalty.

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DOMESTIC CRIME