This podcast details true crime cases. It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of

violence. It is not intended for children. Listener discretion is advised. Thank you for joining me for

today's episode of Once Upon a Crime. I'm pleased to bring you our first long-form series,

Hanged, Ruth Ellis, and The Price of Passion.

Over the next seven weeks, all unfold a fascinating story about a condemned woman

whose life was even more tragic than her ultimate fate.

She was beautiful, glamorous, and captivating.

But behind the lipstick and champagne, she was a woman in crisis.

In the spring of 1955, Ruth Ellis walked up to a London pub in broad daylight,

pulled the revolver from her purse, and shot her lover dead.

She made no attempt to flee. When police arrived,

she calmly confessed, I'm guilty. On the stand, questioned about her intention on that fateful day,

she calmly responded, it's obvious when I shot him, I intended to kill him.

Just weeks later, she was hanged for murder, becoming the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom.

But was Ruth Ellis a cold-blooded killer, or a desperate woman pushed to her breaking point.

I'm Esther, and in the special seven-part series of Once Upon a Crime,

we'll explore the troubled life, turbulent relationships, and tragic downfall of Ruth Ellis.

From her childhood marked by neglect and abuse to the seedy underworld of post-war London nightlife and the trial that stunned the nation, we'll dig

deep into the events that led to one of the most controversial executions in British history.

In part one, we go back to the beginning, long before the headlines and the hanging, to trace the roots of Ruth Ellis' tragic path.

Born Ruth Nielsen in 1926 to a troubled and volatile household, Ruth's early years were marked by instability.

Her father was violent and controlling. Her mother cold and distant.

...