NOTORIOUS AMERICAN KILLER CLOWN AND RAPIST JOHN WAYNE GACY. ALSO KNOWN AS POGO THE CLOWN. HE MURDERED AT LEAST 33 TEENAGE BOYS AND YOUNG MEN AND WAS EXECUTED BY LETHAL INJECTION IN 1994 .

DARK TOURISM HERE IN THE UK – WHERE GOOD AND EVIL COLLIDE & WHERE FANTASY MEETS REALITY .

TRUE CRIME , MURDERABILIA, WITCHCRAFT, SATANISM AND THE OCCULT …. IT’S ALL HERE AND MUCH MORE ON DISPLAY AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION , LITTLEDEAN JAIL, FOREST OF DEAN , GLOUCESTERSHIRE , UK .

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994), also known as the Killer Clown, was an American serial killer and rapist. He sexually assaulted and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978 in Cook County, Illinois.

ABOVE: Original painting by Gloucestershire artist Paul Bridgman of John Wayne Gacy on display at Littledean Jail .

All of Gacy’s known murders were committed inside his Norwood Park, Illinois home. His victims would typically be lured to this address by force or deception, and all but one victim were murdered by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a tourniquet (his first victim was stabbed to death). Gacy buried 26 of his victims in the crawl space of his home. Three further victims were buried elsewhere on his property, while the bodies of his last four known victims were discarded in the Des Plaines River.

Convicted of 33 murders, Gacy was sentenced to death for 12 of these killings on March 13, 1980. He spent 14 years on death row before he was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.

Above: Police mugshots of John Wayne Gacy .

Gacy became known as the “Killer Clown” due to his charitable services at fundraising events, parades, and children’s parties where he would dress as “Pogo the Clown”, a character he devised himself.

BELOW : Various exhibit items to include one of Gacy’s “Pogo The Clown ” suits , handwritten and signed correspondence , a hand painting and various other memorabilia, all of which is on display here at The Crime Through Time Collection , Littledean Jail , Forest of Dean , Gloucestershire, UK .

ABOVE AND BELOW : One of  John Wayne Gacy’s  original worn clown suits. There are two other known Gacy clown suits on display  at The National Museum of Crime , Washington DC , USA .

BELOW: picture of 2 other Gacy clown suits, on display at The National Museum of Crime, Washington DC ….. Previously owned ( not sure if he still owns them )  by Jonathan Davis, lead singer of American Heavy Metal Band “Korn .”

ABOVE: John Wayne Gacy pictured in jail, so say,  shortly before his execution by lethal injection

 

 

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DARK TOURISM UK. GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S EVIL & ALLEGED SATANIC SERIAL KILLERS, FRED & ROSE WEST ARE FEATURED HERE ALONG WITH MUCH MORE TRUE CRIME, MURDERABILIA, MAIMERABILIA & DISMALABILIA, AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, LITTLEDEAN JAIL ….

AS AN INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INSIGHT  INTO THE LIVES OF FRED AND ROSE WEST HERE IS SOME  INTERACTIVE , VERY DISTURBING , THOUGH VERY INTERESTING  DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE ON THE NOTORIOUS BRITISH SERIAL KILLERS  . HERE TOO  ARE SOME IMAGES OF VARIOUS PERSONAL ITEMS THAT BELONGED TO THEM BOTH, INCLUDING VARIOUS SIGNED EPHEMERA AND DOCUMENTATION, WHICH ARE HERE ON DISPLAY IN AMONGST OUR TRUE CRIME AND MURDERABILIA COLLECTIONS.

ABOVE: ORIGINAL POLICE MUGSHOT OF FRED WEST. BELOW ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING BY PAUL BRIDGMAN DEPICTING FRED WEST .

ABOVE AND BELOW: Fred and Rose West with their family pictured at their daughter Anne-Marie’s wedding .

The tie Fred West is wearing is here on display at the jail . Previously also worn by him when with one of his victims, Shirley Robinson , who was pregnant with his unborn child , who he murdered at 25 Cromwell Street …. (see pic of hem together below)

 

Below : A brief gallery showing a various array of whips belonging to the sexually sadistic and evil serial killers Fred and Rose west . For the record these were removed from their family home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester  along with various other  personally owned, used and worn paraphernalia. All of which have long been on display at The Crime Through Time Collection , now at Littledean jail .

 

These whips were well recorded as being used by the West’s on many of their victims and undoubtedly on their children too for sexual pleasures

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Infamous sexually sadistic and evil British  serial killers , Fred and Rose West

Copy of original police handwritten confession statement SIGNED BY FRED WEST  With Fred being illiterate and having very poor reading and writing skills , he had to have the note written by others , for him to sign . 4 March 1994

 

THE INFAMOUS HANDMADE SIGN AT THE ENTERANCE TO 25 CROMWELL STREET , PURPORTED TO HAVE BEEN MADE BY FRED WEST AND NOW APPARANTLY  DESTROYED .

 

THESE ARE GENUINE SET OF KEYS FOR 25 CROMWELL STREET .

 

Handwriten and signed letter from Rose West sent whilst in prison .

Rent book and other paperwork relating to 214 Southgate Street Glos owned by Fred & Rose West .and rented to Mrs Wagner as a cafe , It is highly rumoured that there are more bodies buried here.This building was demolished years ago and the sight redevopled . The records form part of the collection kept at the Crime Through Time Museum at Littledean Jail

 

Rent book and other paperwork relating to 214 Southgate Street Glos owned by Fred & Rose West .and rented to Mrs Wagner as a cafe , It is highly rumoured that there are more bodies buried here.This building was demolished years ago and the sight redevopled . The records form part of the collection kept at the Crime Through Time Museum at Littledean Jail

Christmas card  handwritten by Rose West to Family friend sent during the early 1990’s

 

 

 

Christmas card  handwritten by Rose West to Family friend sent during the early 1990’s

Christmas card  handwritten by Rose West to Family friend sent during the early  1990’s

Front of With Sympathy card given to Rose’s close friend and neighbour Margaretta Dix who lived opposite the West’s at 28 Cromwell Street. This being after  the sudden death of her husband Charlie , aged 64 back in 1992 . He suffered a fatal  heart attack in the family bathroom . Margaretta called on the Wests for help , Fred tried to save him , whilst awaiting ambulance. This is documented in various books and articles relating to the  later Rose West trial .  This card was kindly sourced from the Dix Family and is now on display at the Crime Through Time Collection , along with various other related material .

of With Sympathy card given to Rose’s close friend and neighbour Margaretta Dix who lived opposite the West’s at 28 Cromwell Street. This being after  the sudden death of her husband Charlie , aged 64 back in 1992 . He suffered a fatal  heart attack in the family bathroom . Margaretta called on the Wests for help , Fred tried to save him , whilst awaiting ambulance. This is documented in various books and articles relating to the  later Rose West trial .  This card was kindly sourced from the Dix Family and is now on display at the Crime Through Time Collection , along with various other related material .

Handwritten and signed by Rose west  inset page of With Sympathy card given to Rose’s close friend and neighbour Margaretta Dix who lived opposite the West’s at 28 Cromwell Street. This being after  the sudden death of her husband Charlie , aged 64 back in 1992 . He suffered a fatal  heart attack in the family bathroom . Margaretta called on the Wests for help , Fred tried to save him , whilst awaiting ambulance. This is documented in various books and articles relating to the  later Rose West trial .  This card was kindly sourced from the Dix Family and is now on display at the Crime Through Time Collection , along with various other related material .

 

 

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SUN NEWSPAPER EXCLUSIVE ON THE EMERGED COMPELLING EVIDENCE OF THE CONNECTION  BETWEEN FRED AND ROSE WEST AND THE WILLIAMS’S  PROVIDED BY THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL… PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY 5 MAY 2016

 

Postcard  handwritten by Rose West sent to Family sent during the 1990’s signed Mum and Dad

 SUN NEWSPAPER EXCLUSIVE ON THE EMERGED COMPELLING EVIDENCE OF THE CONNECTION  BETWEEN FRED AND ROSE WEST AND THE WILLIAMS’S … PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY 5 MAY 2016SUN NEWSPAPER EXCLUSIVE ON THE EMERGED COMPELLING EVIDENCE OF THE CONNECTION  BETWEEN FRED AND ROSE WEST AND THE WILLIAMS’S … PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY 5 MAY 2016SUN NEWSPAPER EXCLUSIVE ON THE EMERGED COMPELLING EVIDENCE OF THE CONNECTION  BETWEEN FRED AND ROSE WEST AND THE WILLIAMS’S … PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY 5 MAY 2016 THE TIMES NEWSPAPER REPORT ON THE EMERGED COMPELLING EVIDENCE  OF THE CONNECTION  BETWEEN FRED AND ROSE WEST AND THE WILLIAMS’S… PROVIDED BY THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL … PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY  MAY 6 2016

Postcard  handwritten and sent  by Rose West addressed to ” THE WEST WILLIAMS MENAGERIE, 16 BELGRAVE ROAD, GLOUCESTER (which was home to the Williams family at the time ).  ” to their children  and also seemingly to the children of their “partners in crime ” The Williams family ( David and Pauline who were jailed in October 2015  for child abuse see HERE ) sent during the 1990

The card is signed by Rose West as Mum and Dad whilst Fred and Rose were away on holiday . The postcard depict images of the Cheshire Ring , however the postmark clearly shows that it was posted 14 October 1990 with a Wye Valley , Gloucestershire postal stamp !!!

 

PAULINE AND DAVID WILLIAMS WITH FRED AND ROSE WEST INSET

This image depicts Fred West’s  spade and fork which he used during the burials of his victims at various locations including Cromwell St and other locations around the County of Gloucestershire . He would use the spade to also remove the fingers and toes of his victims , as is well documented . These tools came from 25 Cromwell St along with various other personal items  owned , used and worn by Fred and Rose. All of which are on display here at The Crime Through Time Collection , Littledean Jail .

Original photograph of the inside of the bathroom at 25 Cromwell Street , Gloucester

 

POLICE OUTSIDE THE FRONT OF NO 25, CROMWELL STREET, GLOUCESTER KEEP AN EYE OUT AS THE SEARCH CONTINUES IN THE REAR GARDEN.

Frederick West, accused of murdering his daughter Heather West (far R) is pictured with his second wife Rosemary (far L) at a wedding party for his daughter Anna in 1986. Police have dug up Heather’s remains and a further two unidentified bodies in West’s garden. ? QUALITY DOCUMENT – RTXFF2Z

Picture By: Jules Annan / Retna Pictures Picture Shows: Rent book and other paperwork relating to 214 Southgate Street Glos ownen by Fred & Rose West .and rented to Mrs Wagner as a cafe , It is highly rumourrd that there are more bodies buried here., ths building was demolished years ago and rebuilt The records form part of the collection kept at the Crime Through Time Museum , Little Dean- Date:10th January 09 Job: Ref: JSN – Non-Exclusive *World Rights Only* *Unbylined uses will incur an additional discretionary fee!*

Picture By: Jules Annan / Retna Pictures Picture Shows: Rent book and other paperwork relating to 214 Southgate Street Glos ownen by Fred & Rose West .and rented to Mrs Wagner as a cafe , It is highly rumourrd that there are more bodies buried here., ths building was demolished years ago and rebuilt The records form part of the collection kept at the Crime Through Time Museum , Little Dean- Date:10th January 09 Job: Ref: JSN – Non-Exclusive *World Rights Only* *Unbylined uses will incur an additional discretionary fee!*

HERE ARE PARTS 1-3 OF THIS “MUST SEE”….VERY  IN DEPTH INTERACTIVE (WITH OUR CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTIONS HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL) REMARKABLE THOUGH VERY DISTURBING….  DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE  INTO THE LIVES AND CRIMES OF FRED AND ROSE WEST. INCLUDING ROSE WEST PROSTITUTING HERSELF AT HOME AT 25 CROMWELL STREET , GLOUCESTER . VIDEOED BY HER HUSBAND FRED WEST AND POLICE INTERVIEW TAPE RECORDINGS WITH FRED AND ROSE WEST .

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN TRUE CRIME  DO VIEW  ALL 9 PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENTARY WHICH ALSO INCLUDES FOOTAGE OF THE WEST FAMILY VISITING THE FOREST OF DEAN AREAS … CLOSE TO THE JAIL

WHILST VERY INTRIGUING AND INFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE …. PLEASE BE WARNED THAT THERE IS CONSIDERABLE FOUL LANGUAGE IN SEVERAL PARTS FROM BOTH FRED AND ROSE WEST .ALSO IN THE MAIN , VERY DISTURBING CONTENT

HERE AT THE JAIL WE EXHIBIT AND DISPLAY A NUMBER OF PERSONAL ITEMS , WORN  CLOTHING AND ALSO TOOLS OF THE TRADE USED BY FRED WEST . THIS BEING A SMALL PART OF OUR TRUE  CRIME COLLECTIONS

WARNING…. PLEASE DO BE AWARE THAT A LOT OF THE FOOTAGE ON THIS POST  (AND THE OTHER PARTS (4-9) BELOW) , CONTAIN VERY DISTURBING MATERIAL .

DO COME VISIT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION HERE AT         LITTLEDEAN JAIL  AND SEE OUR EXTENSIVE AND DIVERSE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF TRUE CRIME MURDERABILIA , MEMORABILIA , THE TABOO AND MUCH MUCH MORE .

AS WE ALWAYS SAY …… IF EASILY OFFENDED, DISTURBED OR OF A SENSITIVE NATURE PLEASE DO AVOID VISITING THE JAIL

THE LAST WOMAN TO BE HANGED IN BRITAIN – RUTH ELLIS 13 JULY 1955

Ruth Ellis (9 October 1926 – 13 July 1955) was the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom, after being convicted of the murder of her lover, David Blakely.

 

Original oil painting of Ruth Ellis by Gloucestershire artist Paul Bridgman , on display at The Crime  Through Time Collection , Littledean Jail , Forest of Dean , Gloucestershire , UK

BELOW IS A BRIEF ORIGINAL NEWSREEL FOOTAGE SURROUNDING THE CONTROVERSIAL EXECUTION OF RUTH ELLIS ON THE 13TH JULY 1955BELOW IS AN ORIGINAL HANDWRITTEN AND SIGNED  LETTER FROM RUTH ELLIS TO A PREVIOUS VISITING LADY FROM CHELTENHAM AND SENT FROM HER CONDEMNED CELL AT HMP HOLLOWAY 2 MONTHS PROIR TO HER EXECUTIONNOW HERE ON DISPLAY AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL , FOREST OF DEAN , GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK

 

THIS IMAGE (BELOW ) IS TAKEN FROM THE FILM – PIERREPOINT DEPICTING THE SCENE OF THE EXECUTION OF RUTH ELLIS. A FILM TRAILER FOR THE FILM- PIERREPOINT THAT TOUCHES UPON THE EXECUTIONER WHO HANGED RUTH ELLIS …… ALBERT PIERREPOINT

Ruth Ellis (9 October 1926 – 13 July 1955) was the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom, after being convicted of the murder of her lover, David Blakely.

From a humble background, Ellis was soon drawn into the world of London nightclub hostessing, which led to a chaotic life of brief relationships, some of them with upper-class nightclubbers and celebrities. Two of these were David Blakely, a racing-driver already engaged to another woman, and Desmond Cussen, a retail company director, who gave her a gun, apparently to attack the violent Blakely.

On Easter Sunday 1955, Ellis shot Blakely dead outside a public house in Hampstead, and immediately gave herself up to the police. At her trial, she took full responsibility for the murder, shielding Cussen from blame, and her courtesy and composure, both in court and in the cells, was much noted in the press. She was hanged at Holloway Prison, London, by Albert Pierrepoint.^[2]

The case attracted great controversy, since the anti-hanging debate was already in full cry, and she might have won a reprieve had she taken her solicitors’ advice. The picture of the attractive blonde murderess remains one of the iconic images of 1950’s London.

Early life

Ellis was born in the Welsh seaside town of Rhyl, the third of six children. During her childhood her family moved to Basingstoke. Her mother, Elisaberta (Bertha) Cothals, was a Belgian refugee; her father, Arthur Hornby, was a cellist from Manchester who spent much of his time playing on Atlantic cruise liners. Arthur changed his surname to Neilson after the birth of Ruth’s elder sister Muriel.

Ellis attended Fairfields Senior Girls’ School in Basingstoke,^[1] leaving when she was 14 to work as a waitress. Shortly afterwards, in 1941 at the height of the Blitz, the Neilsons moved to London. In 1944, 17-year-old Ruth became pregnant by a married Canadian soldier and gave birth to a son,Clare Andrea Neilson,^[1] known as “Andy”.^[3] The father sent money for about a year, then stopped. The child eventually went to live with Ellis’s mother.^[4]

Career

Ellis became a nightclub hostess through nude modelling work, which paid significantly more than the various factory and clerical jobs she had held since leaving school. Morris Conley, the manager of the Court Club in Duke Street, where she worked, blackmailed his hostess employees into sleeping with him. Early in 1950 she became pregnant by one of her regular customers, having taken up prostitution.^[4] She had this pregnancy terminated (illegally) in the third month and returned to work as soon as she could.

On 8 November 1950, she married 41-year-old George Ellis, a divorced dentist with two sons, at the register office in Tonbridge, Kent.^[5] He had been a customer at the Court Club. He was a violent alcoholic, jealous and possessive, and the marriage deteriorated rapidly because he was convinced she was having an affair. Ruth left him several times but always returned.

In 1951, while four months pregnant, Ruth appeared, uncredited, as a beauty queen in the Rank film Lady Godiva Rides Again. She subsequently gave birth to a daughter Georgina, but George refused to acknowledge paternity and they separated shortly afterwards. Ruth and her daughter moved in with her parents and she went back to hostessing to make ends meet.^[4]

Murder of David Blakely

In 1953, Ruth Ellis became the manager of a nightclub. At this time, she was lavished with expensive gifts by admirers, and had a number of celebrity friends.^[4] She met David Blakely, three years her junior, through racing driver Mike Hawthorn. Blakely was a well-mannered former public school boy, but also a hard-drinking racer. Within weeks he moved into her flat above the club, despite being engaged to another woman, Mary Dawson. Ellis became pregnant for the fourth time but aborted the child, feeling she could not reciprocate the level of commitment shown by Blakely towards their relationship.^[6]

She then began seeing Desmond Cussen. Born in 1921 in Surrey he had been an RAF pilot, flying Lancaster bombers during the Second World War, leaving the RAF in 1946, when he took up accountancy. He was appointed a director of the family business Cussen & Co., a wholesale and retail tobacconists with outlets in London and South Wales. When Ruth was sacked as manager of the Carroll Club, she moved in with Cussen at 20 Goodward Court, Devonshire Street, north of Oxford Street, becoming his mistress.

The relationship with Blakely continued, however, and became increasingly violent and embittered as Ellis and Blakely continued to see other people.^[6] Blakely offered to marry Ellis, to which she consented, but she lost another child in January 1955, after a miscarriage induced by a punch to the stomach in an argument with Blakely.^[6]

The Magdala today

On Easter Sunday, 10 April 1955,^[7] Ellis took a taxi from Cussen’s home to a second floor flat at 29 Tanza Road, Hampstead, the home of Anthony and Carole Findlater and where she suspected Blakely might be. As she arrived, Blakely’s car drove off, so she paid off the taxi and walked the quarter mile to The Magdala,^[8] a four-storey public house in South Hill Park, Hampstead, where she found Blakely’s car parked outside.

At around 9:30 pm David Blakely and his friend Clive Gunnell emerged. Blakely passed Ellis waiting on the pavement when she stepped out of Henshaws Doorway, a newsagent next to The Magdala. He ignored her when she said “Hello, David,” then shouted “David!”

As Blakely searched for the keys to his car,^[9] Ellis took a .38 calibre Smith & Wesson Victory model revolver from her handbag and fired five shots at Blakely. The first shot missed and he started to run, pursued by Ellis round the car, where she fired a second, which caused him to collapse onto the pavement. She then stood over him and fired three more bullets into him. One bullet was fired less than half an inch from Blakely’s back and left powder burns on his skin.

Ellis was seen to stand mesmerised over the body and witnesses reported hearing several distinct clicks as she tried to fire the revolver’s sixth and final shot, before finally firing into the ground. This bullet ricocheted off the road and injured Gladys Kensington Yule, 53, in the base of her thumb, as she walked to The Magdala.

Ellis, in a state of shock, asked Gunnell, “Will you call the police, Clive?” She was arrested immediately by an off-duty policeman, Alan Thompson (PC 389), who took the still-smoking gun from her, put it in his coat pocket, and heard her say, “I am guilty, I’m a little confused.” She was taken to Hampstead police station where she appeared to be calm and not obviously under the influence of drink or drugs. She made a detailed confession to the police and was charged with murder. Blakely’s body was taken to hospital with multiple bullet wounds to the intestines, liver, lung, aorta and windpipe.

Investigation

No solicitor was present during Ellis’s interrogation or during the taking of her statement at Hampstead police station, although three police officers were present that night at 11:30 pm: Detective Inspector Gill, Detective Inspector Crawford and Detective Chief Inspector Davies. Ellis was still without legal representation when she made her first appearance at the magistrates’ court on 11 April 1955 and held on remand.

She was twice examined by principal Medical Officer, M. R. Penry Williams, who failed to find evidence of mental illness and she undertook an electroencephalography examination on 3 May that failed to find any abnormality. While on remand in Holloway, she was examined by psychiatrist Dr D. Whittaker for the defence, and by Dr A. Dalzell on behalf of the Home Office. Neither found evidence of insanity.

Trial and execution

On 20 June 1955, Ellis appeared in the Number One Court at the Old Bailey, London, before Mr Justice Havers. She was dressed in a black suit and white silk blouse with freshly bleached and coiffured blonde hair. Her lawyers had wanted her to play down her appearance, but she was determined to have her moment. To many in the courthouse, her fixation with being the brassy blonde was at least partially responsible for the poor impression she made when giving evidence.

It’s obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him.^[10]

—Ruth Ellis, in the witness box at the Old Bailey, 20 June 1955.

This was her answer to the only question put to her by Christmas Humphreys, counsel for the Prosecution, who asked, “When you fired the revolver at close range into the body of David Blakely, what did you intend to do?”^[10] The defending counsel, Aubrey Melford Stevenson supported by Sebag Shaw and Peter Rawlinson, would have advised Ellis of this possible question before the trial began, because it is standard legal practice to do so. Her reply to Humphreys’s question in open court guaranteed a guilty verdict and therefore the mandatory death sentence which followed. The jury took 14 minutes to convict her.^[10] She received the sentence, and was taken to the condemned cell at Holloway.

In a 2010 television interview Mr Justice Havers’s grandson, actor Nigel Havers, said his grandfather had written to the Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George recommending a reprieve as he regarded it as a crime passionnel, but received a curt refusal, which was still held by the family. It has been suggested that the final nail in her coffin was that an innocent passer-by had been injured.

Reluctantly, at midday on 12 July 1955, the day before her execution, Ellis, having dismissed Bickford, the solicitor chosen for her by her friend Desmond Cussen, made a statement to the solicitor Victor Mishcon (whose law firm had previously represented her in her divorce proceedings but not in the murder trial) and his clerk, Leon Simmons. She revealed more evidence about the shooting and said that the gun had been provided by Cussen, and that he had driven her to the murder scene. Following their 90-minute interview in the condemned cell, Mishcon and Simmons went to the Home Office, where they spoke to a senior civil servant about Ellis’s revelations. The authorities made no effort to follow this up and there was no reprieve.

In a final letter to David Blakely’s parents from her prison cell, she wrote “I have always loved your son, and I shall die still loving him.”^[11]

Ever since Edith Thompson‘s execution in 1923, condemned female prisoners had been required to wear thick padded calico knickers, so just prior to the allotted time, Warder Evelyn Galilee, who had guarded Ellis for the previous three weeks, took her to the lavatory. Warder Galilee said, “I’m sorry Ruth but I’ve got to do this.” They had tapes back and front to pull. Ellis said “Is that all right?” and “Would you pull these tapes, Evelyn? I’ll pull the others.” On re-entering the condemned cell, she took off her glasses, placed them on the table and said “I won’t be needing these anymore.”^[12]

Thirty seconds before 9 am on Wednesday 13 July, the official hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, and his assistant, Royston Rickard, entered the condemned cell and escorted Ruth the 15 feet (4.6 m) to the execution room next door.^[13] She had been weighed at 103 pounds (47 kg) the previous day and a drop of 8 ft 4in was set. Pierrepoint carried out the execution in just 12 seconds and her body was left hanging for an hour. Her autopsy report, by the pathologist Dr Keith Simpson, was made public.^[14]

The Bishop of Stepney, Joost de Blank, visited Ellis just before her death, and she told him, “It is quite clear to me that I was not the person who shot him. When I saw myself with the revolver I knew I was another person.” These comments were made in a London evening paper of the time, The Star.

[edit]Public reaction

The case caused widespread controversy at the time, evoking exceptionally intense press and public interest to the point that it was discussed by the Cabinet.^[15]

On the day of her execution the Daily Mirror columnist Cassandra wrote a column attacking the sentence, writing “The one thing that brings stature and dignity to mankind and raises us above the beasts will have been denied her—pity and the hope of ultimate redemption.”^[16] A petition to the Home Office asking for clemency was signed by 50,000 people, but the Conservative Home Secretary Major Gwilym Lloyd George rejected it.^[16]

The novelist Raymond Chandler, then living in Britain, wrote a scathing letter to the Evening Standard, referring to what he described as “the medieval savagery of the law”.^[17]

Legacy

The hanging helped strengthen public support for the abolition of the death penalty, which was halted in practice for murder in Britain 10 years later (the last execution in the UK occurred in 1964). Reprieve was by then commonplace. According to one statistical account, between 1926 and 1954, 677 men and 60 women had been sentenced to death in England and Wales, but only 375 men and seven women had been executed.^[18]

In the early 1970s, John Bickford, Ellis’s solicitor, made a statement to Scotland Yard from his home in Malta. He was recalling what Desmond Cussen had told him in 1955: how Ellis lied at the trial and how he (Bickford) had hidden that information. After Bickford’s confession a police investigation followed but no further action regarding Cussen was taken.

Anthony Eden, the Prime Minister at the time, made no reference to the Ruth Ellis case in his memoirs, nor is there anything in his papers. He accepted that the decision was the responsibility of the Home Secretary, but there are indications that he was troubled by it.^[19]

Foreign newspapers observed that the concept of the crime passionnel seemed alien to the British.

[edit]Family aftermath

In 1969 Ellis’s mother, Berta Neilson, was found unconscious in a gas-filled room in her flat in Hemel Hempstead. She never fully recovered and did not speak coherently again. Ellis’s husband, George Ellis, descended into alcoholism and hanged himself in 1958. Her son, Andy, who was 10 at the time of his mother’s hanging, suffered irreparable psychological damage and committed suicide in a bedsit in 1982. The trial judge, Sir Cecil Havers, had sent money every year for Andy’s upkeep, and Christmas Humphreys, the prosecution counsel at Ellis’s trial, paid for his funeral.^[3] Ellis’s daughter, Georgina, who was three when her mother was executed, was adopted when her father hanged himself three years later. She died of cancer aged 50.^[20]

[edit]Pardon campaign

The case continues to have a strong grip on the British imagination and in 2003 was referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The Court firmly rejected the appeal, although it made clear that it could rule only on the conviction based on the law as it stood in 1955, and not on whether she should have been executed.^[21]

The court was critical of the fact that it had been obliged to consider the appeal:

We would wish to make one further observation. We have to question whether this exercise of considering an appeal so long after the event when Mrs Ellis herself had consciously and deliberately chosen not to appeal at the time is a sensible use of the limited resources of the Court of Appeal. On any view, Mrs Ellis had committed a serious criminal offence. This case is, therefore, quite different from a case like Hanratty [2002] 2 Cr App R 30 where the issue was whether a wholly innocent person had been convicted of murder. A wrong on that scale, if it had occurred, might even today be a matter for general public concern, but in this case there was no question that Mrs Ellis was other than the killer and the only issue was the precise crime of which she was guilty. If we had not been obliged to consider her case we would perhaps in the time available have dealt with 8 to 12 other cases, the majority of which would have involved people who were said to be wrongly in custody.^[22]

In July 2007 a petition was published on the 10 Downing Street website asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown to reconsider the Ruth Ellis case and grant her a pardon in the light of new evidence that the Old Bailey jury in 1955 was not asked to consider. It expired on 4 July 2008.^[23]

[edit]Burials

Ellis was buried in an unmarked grave within the walls of Holloway Prison, as was customary for executed prisoners. In the early 1970s the prison underwent an extensive programme of rebuilding, during which the bodies of all the executed women were exhumed for reburial elsewhere. Ellis’s body was reburied in the churchyard extension of St Mary’s Church in Amersham,Buckinghamshire. The headstone in the churchyard was inscribed “Ruth Hornby 1926–1955”. Her son, Andy, destroyed the headstone shortly before he committed suicide in 1982. The family later reportedly removed her remains and reburied them at a secret location because of the attention that the plot at St Mary’s was receiving.

The remains of the four other women executed at Holloway, Styllou Christofi, Edith Thompson, Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, were reburied in a single grave at Brookwood Cemetery.

Coincidentally, Styllou Christofi, who was executed in December 1954, lived at 11 South Hill Park in Hampstead,^[24] with her son and daughter-in-law, a few yards from The Magdala public house at number 2a, where David Blakely was shot four months later.

Film, TV and theatrical adaptations

In 1980, the third episode of the first series of the ITV drama series Lady Killers recreated the court case, with Ellis played by Georgina Hale.

The first cinema portrayal of Ellis came with the release of the 1985 movie Dance with a Stranger (directed by Mike Newell), featuring Miranda Richardson as Ellis.

Both Ellis’s story and the story of Albert Pierrepoint are retold in the stage play Follow Me, written by Ross Gurney-Randall and Dave Mounfield and directed by Guy Masterson. It premièred at theAssembly Rooms as part of the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In the film Pierrepoint (2006), Ellis was portrayed by Mary Stockley.

GREAT TRAIN ROBBER RONNIE BIGGS FUNERAL – THE FINAL JOURNEY 3RD JANUARY 2014

BELOW ORDER OF SERVICE FOR THE FUNERAL OF RONNIE BIGGS

RONNIE’S SON MICHAEL IN A PRIVATE MOMENT OUTSIDE  HIS HOME PRIOR TO THE HEARSE TAKING RONNIE ON HIS  FINAL JOURNEY TO GOLDERS GREEN CREMATORIUM

RONNIE’S  WICKER COFFIN INSIDE GOLDERS GREEN CREMATORIUM ADORNED WITH THE BRAZILIAN AND ENGLISH NATIONAL FLAGS, HIS ARSENAL SCARF AND TRILBY HAT 
BELOW ARE A COUPLE OF NEWS VIDEO FOOTAGE COVERING THE FUNERAL 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4xVLlV5EMU

BELOW IS HOW THE DAILY MAIL NEWSPAPER REPORTED THE FUNERAL

Ageing gangsters, Hell’s Angels taking selfies, a coffin draped in the BRAZILIAN flag… and a two-fingered floral salute: A fittingly tacky send-off for Ronnie Biggs

• Ronnie Biggs, the Great Train Robber, died last month aged 84
• Notorious prisoner Charles Bronson sent a bouquet of flowers
• He said in a message read to the funeral: ‘I do hope the royal family show their respect with a nice train wreath’
• Brazilian flag draped across Ronnie Biggs’ coffin
  
• Freddie Foreman, who had links to the Kray twins, among the mourners
• Biggs gave a two-fingered salute last time he was seen in public
• Today his coffin was taken to Golders Green Crematorium, north London with a similar floral tribute
• Great Train Robbers fled with £2.6m in 1963 – £46m in today’s money
• Train driver Jack Mills was beaten over the head and never fully recovered

Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, who spent much of his life cocking a snook at authority, was given an appropriate send off today.

He stuck two-fingers to the authorities for one last time – with an offensive floral tribute in the back of his hearse.

And in what could be seen as a final dig at British justice, the criminal’s coffin had a Union Flag draped across it which was almost completely covered by a Brazilian flag in reference to the time he spent on the run there.

After being jailed, Biggs escaped from Wandsworth Prison in 1965 and made his way to Rio five years later where he could not be extradited back to his homeland. He stayed there for 27 years before finally returning to the country.

At his funeral today, some of Britain’s best-known villains paid their respects in person – and those behind bars sent their messages of condolence.

 

Mourners: Ronnie Biggs’ coffin is carried into Golders Green crematorium, draped in a Brazilian flag with his trademark cap on the top. the criminal spent 27 years in Brazil before he returned to Britain

The Great Train Robber’s coffin, draped with a Union Flag, a Brazilian flag and a scarf of his beloved Arsenal football team is carried into Golders Green Crematorium

Funeral: Ronnie Biggs son Michael holds his father’s cap as he is comforted by Great Train Robbery ringleader Bruce Reynolds’ son Nick

Tribute: Biggs’s granddaughter Ingrid and son Michael speak during the funeral service

Emotion: Biggs’s granddaughter Ingrid is consoled by her father Michael, after delivering her speech

In loving memory: A copy of the order of service for the funeral of Ronnie Biggs

Nick Reynolds, son of Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds gives a reading during the funeral service

Charles Bronson, one of the country’s longest-serving prisoners, sent a bouquet containing an old ten-bob note with the words ‘Ronnie Biggs RIP’ scrawled across it.

Biggs, who spend 36 years on the run in total, died last month aged 84 after a long battle with illness.

When Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind behind the notorious Great Train Robbery in 1963, died last year, Biggs took the opportunity to swear at journalists one last time.

Today Bruce’s son Nick was among the mourners at Golders Green Crematorium, in north London.

Freddie Foreman, a notorious East End crook with links to the Kray twins, and self-proclaimed former gangster Dave Courtney were also in attendance.

Final journey: Ronnie Biggs’ body is taken to his funeral escorted by Hells Angels outriders

Defiance: A two-fingered floral tribute is displayed in the back of Ronnie Biggs’ hearse this afternoon as his body is taken to the crematorium. He died last month aged 84

Funeral: Flanked by a posse of Hells Angels, the coffin is driven to the crematorium draped in two flags – and with Biggs’ cap on top

Final journey: Ronnie Biggs’ coffin is carried into the crematorium by Nick Reynolds, son of the Great Train Robbery ringleader Bruce

Respects: Ronnie Biggs’ coffin is carried into the crematorium this afternoon

Mourners: Hells Angel bikers and other wellwishers attend the funeral in north London

Escort: A police van and a row of cars follow the hearse to the funeral in north London

Grief: Michael Biggs, the Great Train Robber’s son, is seen in sunglasses at the funeral in north London

Send off: The Hells Angels bikers arrive at the funeral, leading the coffin to the crematorium

Send-off: The bikers arrive at the crematorium in Golders Green, north London, this afternoon

Tribute: A six-piece Dixie band joined the procession for the final part of the journey to the crematorium.
Leading the hearse and funeral cars, it played songs including When the Saints Come Marching In

Criminal: Notorious prisoner Charles Bronson sent a bouquet of flowers with an old ten bob note with ‘Ronnie Biggs RIP’ written on it

Final journey: The coffin is carried into Golders Green Crematorium this afternoon as Biggs is given a final send-off from family, gangsters and rogues

Defiance: Ronnie Biggs, seen last year when he made his final public appearance (left), gives a two-fingered salute. He was involved in the Great Train Robbery when he was much younger (right) in 1963

 

Friends say final farewell to Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs

Biggs’ coffin had both the Union Jack and the Brazilian flag draped across it – in reference to the time he spent on the run.

The robber and his co-conspirators made off with £2.6million – which is £46million in today’s money – when they hijacked a Royal Mail train in Ledburn, Buckinghamshire.

Jack Mills, the driver, was coshed over the head with an iron bar and never properly recovered from his injuries.

At Biggs’ funeral today, the Reverend Dave Thompson said: ‘People have asked me “How can you take part in the funeral of a Great Train Robber?”

‘What we need to remember is that Jesus didn’t hang out with hoity-toity folk, he just treated people as people.’

Mourners entered the church to the sound of the London Dixieland Jazz Band before the service began with the hymn Abide With Me by Scottish Anglican Henry Francis Lyte

A eulogy was read by Biggs’s son Michael before a Shakespeare sonnet chosen by Charmain Biggs and two of Biggs’s own poems read by his friend Cookie

Grief: Michael Biggs, pictured at the funeral this week, will tattoo in some of his father’s ashes into his arm

Respects: The actor Steven Berkoff was among the mourners at the funeral in north London today

Ex-wife: Charmain Powell, the former wife of Ronnie Biggs, is seen today on her way to the funeral

Mourner: Charmain Powell, the ex-wife of Ronnie Biggs, makes her way to his funeral in north London today

Old criminal: Freddie Foreman, a notorious East End crook with links to the Kray twins, arrives at Ronnie Biggs’ funeral

Tribute: Nick Reynolds, son of Bruce Reynolds who was the ringleader of the Great Train Robbery, arrives at Golders Green crematorium in north London

Mourner: Howard Marks arrives at the funeral this afternoon in north London

Mourner: His face covered in tattoos, a mourner arrives at Ronnie Biggs’ funeral in Golders Green, north London, this afternoon

Biggs’s son Michael cried as he paid homage to his father, saying; ‘I’m here to talk about Ron, Ronnie, to me simply dad.

‘Dad always had a way of looking at things and saying something that was fair and often funny.

‘Dad never made enemies and after arriving in Brazil he embraced the culture and became a carioca, someone from Rio.

‘He always had soft spot for the underdog and he considered himself to be one, he always had a few pennies for the street beggars.

‘He spoke the lingo and enjoyed the samba.

‘And parties, he knew about great parties, some were memorable and to this day there are still old hippies that I meet in Rio and say the biggest party they ever went to were with dad.

‘Dad thank you for all your love and strength when necessary, your screwed up way of parenting that many people did not understand, however it has worked.

‘Let’s celebrate his life with a proper booze up later on, ashes to ashes and dust to the beach.

‘Don’t worry mate, you are not paying for the booze.’

Funeral selfie: Hells Angel bikers pose for a selfie as they arrive at Ronnie Biggs’ funeral at Golders Green crematorium this afternoon

Mourner: A man arrives at Ronnie Biggs’ funeral at Golders Green crematorium this afternoon

Mourners: Ronnie Biggs, the Great Train Robber who spent 36 years on the run, died last month at the age of 83Bruce Reynolds’ son Nick described Biggs as ‘a great character, with charisma and what he called his kind of luck’.

Speaking about the ill health he had suffered in his last years, Mr Reynolds said: ‘Ronnie managed to hang on to life with great tenacity, dignity and humour.

‘The house was a wreck but the lights were on and Ron was very much at home.

‘The word legend is defined in the dictionary as an extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field, and Ron certainly fits that description.’

He also read out an email from Bronson, who described Biggs as ‘staunch, solid, loyal to the end’.

‘Much respect to a diamond geezer,’ Bronson wrote. ‘I do hope the royal family show their respect with a nice train wreath.

‘Three cheers to you Ron, we love you buddy.’

Tribute: A man carries a floral tribute sent by Charles Bronson to the funeral. A note from the notorious criminal, daubed on an old ten bob note read ‘Ronnie Biggs RIP’

Grief: Guests arrive at Ronnie Biggs’ funeral in north London today after he died last month following a long illness

Crowd: Old criminals, family and friends of Ronnie Biggs attend the funeral of the convicted thief who spent 36 years on the run

‘From all your friends’: A bouquet of flowers from the Hells Angels bikers with a note which says ‘rest in peace Ron, love and respect’

Funeral: Self-proclaimed English former gangster Dave Courtney arrives at Ronnie Biggs’ funeral at Golders Green Crematorium today

Earlier, the funeral cortege, with a guard of honour formed by 13 Hells Angels bikers, left the home of Biggs’ son Michael and daughter-in-law Veronica in Barnet, north London.

Michael, who was wearing dark glasses and jeans with a skull and crossbones belt, met with mourners before the cortege set off.

Ronald Arthur ‘Ronnie’ Biggs, who spent more than three decades on the run, had been cared for at Carlton Court Care Home in East Barnet, north London, after suffering several strokes in recent years.

Funeral: Two men embrace outside Golders Green crematorium where Ronnie Biggs’ funeral was held

Mourners: Dressed in black, these people arrive at Ronnie Biggs’ funeral in Golders Green this afternoon

His carers at the home were among those joining the funeral procession today.

Close friend and writer Chris Pickard, who helped Biggs put together his autobiography Odd Man Out, said: ‘I am going to remember him as a great friend. He was great fun to be around.

‘I knew him in Rio and he was a great host and a very generous man.

‘People forget he was involved in just one major incident, one of the iconic crimes of the 20th century.

‘He always said he was the best witness to the Great Train Robbery, he played a very minor part in it, but people always link it to him.

‘But if he hadn’t gone over the prison wall, he wouldn’t have been remembered – there were 16 people at the track but it’s only people like him, Buster Edwards and Bruce Reynolds that get remembered all these years later.

‘Ronnie kept in the news by being on the run for all those years, getting himself kidnapped, it is amazing – he has been in the news virtually every year for the last 50 years and very few people can say that.’

Press pack: Photographers compete for space outside Golders Green Crematorium

Grief: The crowd of mourners at Golders Green crematorium in north London this afternoon

Crowd: People watch as Ronnie Biggs’ coffin leaves his home and heads to the crematorium in north LondonAsked about the presence of former gangsters at the funeral, Mr Pickard said: ‘He probably wouldn’t know them – he wasn’t involved in that, he was more involved, especially in Brazil, with the arts, music, things like that.

‘His friends were from a huge base of artists and musicians, he didn’t really have that many friends in the criminal fraternity.’

Biggs was released from prison in 2009 on compassionate grounds due to ill health, despite being re-arrested in 2001 upon his return to the UK after evading the authorities since his first escape from Wandsworth Prison in 1965.

At the time of his escape, Biggs had served just 15 months of the 30-year sentence he was handed for his part in the robbery of a Royal Mail freight train between London and Glasgow on August 8, 1963.

After having plastic surgery, he lived as a fugitive for 36 years first in Australia then Brazil, where Michael was born. His son later became the key to him being allowed to stay in the country and not face extradition. Biggs’s money eventually ran out and he traded on his notoriety to scrape a living.

Speaking last year, he said he was proud to have been part of the gang behind the robbery, which saw 15 men escape with a record haul.

Biggs, who could not speak due to his strokes and communicated through a spelling board, said: ‘If you want to ask me if I have any regrets about being one of the train robbers, my answer is, “No”.

‘I will go further: I am proud to have been one of them.’

He did admit to some regrets, however.

‘It is regrettable, as I have said many times, that the train driver was injured,’ he said.

Final sendoff: Draped in both a British flag and a Brazilian flag – in honour of the South American country where he spent so many years on the run – Ronnie Biggs’ coffin is taken to his funeral

Hells Angels: The bikers went in front of the funeral cortege as the coffin was driven to the crematorium

Tribute act: The bikers arrive at Ronnie Biggs’ family’s home in Barnet, north London, to make the journey to the crematorium

Defiant to the last: Thief Ronnie Biggs swears at photographers at the funeral of fellow Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds last year

Living it up: Ronnie Biggs relaxes in Brazil in 1997 where he spent 36 years on the run from British justice before returning to get medical care

Notorious: Ronnie Biggs, who died last month, revelled in the fame his heinous crime brought him

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