The pair frequently visited the Paddock Club, which was a mile or so from Cussens Leatherhead family home, since the late 1940s. Barbershop customer Matthew - an eternal mature student who would ditch the books to spend his time in the shop - was played by Gyearbuor Asante, who sadly passed away in 2000. Instead he summarised, "We have heard the evidence about your taking a revolver up to Hampstead and shooting him. Wikimedia Commons Desmond Doss was famously portrayed in the movie Hacksaw Ridge, but his true story is even more incredible. The former hostess had tracked her inconstant and abusive lover David Blakely to a Hampstead pub a few months before getting the ride, and the murder weapon, from her unrequited hanger-on Desmond Cussen and shot Blakely dead on the street. One doesnt assume anything when there is a death sentence looming. Hed already decided to "Subject the witnesses of the prosecution to a minimum of cross-examination. DesmondCussenFalls for Ruth. His character was best known for his "old African sayings". Next Tuesday, nearly 50 years after Ellis walked to the gallows, Jakubait will be at the royal courts of justice in London to see the court of appeal re-open her sister's case. Ruth was hanged to protect the shadowy characters she mixed with and took her secrets to an unconsecrated grave at Holloway prison. And someone was determined to send Ruth to the gallows.Official files relating to the trial, including the transcript, have been locked away for much longer than the statutory 30 years. ", she sealed her fate by responding: "It is obvious that when I shot him I intended to kill him.". ", Mr Hyde replied, "Is my Right Hon and gallant friend aware that what he has said will reassure those members of the public who were alarmed at a statement to the contrary sense made by the Bishop of Stepney, who visited Mrs Ellis shortly before her execution?". I told him that Muriel Jakubait wished to handle the gun (displayed in the Museum) that was retrieved at the scene of the shooting. ", At about 9 pm on the night of the shooting Moreen Gleeson, a Hampstead resident saw Ruth and Cussen outside 29 Tanza Road in Hampstead, where Ruth believed Blakely was conducting an affair with another woman. It all looks extremely suspicious. Refusing any option to reduce her sentence - like pleading insanity or highlighting the role of her new lover Desmond Cussen, whom had given her the gun and driven her to the pub - her hearing. Jakubait revealed only four years ago that their father had raped her at the age of 14, producing a son who was brought up as her brother, and had abused Ellis as well. Ruth said she shot David Blakely in a jealous rage, believing he was having an affair. There is a final postscript to the Ruth Ellis story. The judge took away power of the jury.". Altogether there are 33 subtle changes.Where did the instructions come from, for Christmas Humphreys to make those changes?Its obvious now; Ruth was being set up. Theres no record in any file of fingerprints even being taken or evidence on her fingers or clothing of having fired a gun. Hanged killer Ruth Ellis has been secretly denied a pardon by the Government, documents reveal. Sylvia thought the couple rented a cottage in Ide Hill or Brasted Chart, adjacent hamlets east of Westerham and a short distance from Fort Halstead. "He explained to the judge Mr Justice Havers that the close range shot had left the usual circle of powder fouling around the bullet hole. He was later captured by the Templars, who wished to obtain his ancestor's memories through the Animus to find Pieces of Eden. They regularly practised shooting 303 rifles on a local rifle range. To pull a trigger of 10lbs requires definite and deliberate muscular effort.". Are they going to charge him? It strikes me as strange, that Ruth Elliss mother had this address in her notebook 50 years ago. Statements from new witnesses had one thing in common. This key witness did not see who shot Blakely, "but listening to him being questioned by Humphreys" youd think he did. It appeared to be an open-and-shut case of cold- blooded murder. She read something about Cussen and the murder in a national paper but dismissed it as "ill-informed." At other times they were taken in a lorry to Bisley to practise with Sten guns. Quite by chance, in December 2003 I made another major discovery. Two days before the hanging, Ellis's lawyers had submitted evidence, including the testimony of witnesses that Blakely had inflicted repeated beatings on her and that she believed he had caused the miscarriage she suffered just 10 days before the shooting with a punch to the stomach. But the judge, Sir Cecil Havers, ruled it out. After months of research and trawling through electoral registers and directories I realised I hadnt just found a safe house, Id found a safe street! Cussen had one gun and gave another to Ruth. Cussen, her "alternative" lover, wound her up like a spring, got her drunk, drove her to the scene of the crime and put a gun in her hand. This, I feel, is unlikely. In a Prison Service file, recently opened for public scrutiny, I read that Ruth told the medical officer at Holloway prison hospital that her left hand and ankle had been affected by rheumatic fever. It seems that he was . It was a long shot. It seems odd therefore that twenty-three days after the start of my research I began uncovering alarming inconsistencies to the accepted story about him.Was it just poor research by commentators over the last fifty years or had those writers been fed misinformation, part of the big lie being spread, to hoodwink the public about the real Ruth Ellis story? She claimed at the time to have been given the gun by an American serviceman as security for a nightclub debt, and to have taken a taxi to the pub. The imposing Desmond Castle and Banqueting Hall in the centre of Newcastle West is the town's obvious historical landmark and a must-see for any visitor but there are also many other wonderful places of historical significance worth checking out. Melford Stevenson QC, also overlooked this important detail. There was no official explanation.The Donald Maclean connection with Penn illustrates just one of the complicated trails typical of my findings. But he made no attempt to show all the evidence to the jury and let them draw their own conclusions. ", In 1955, Ruth Ellis was hanged for murder. Towards the middle of 1954, Ruth Ellis had a affair with Desmond Cussen. The last of Ruth's family, she has been fighting for nearly 50 years to overturn her sister's conviction. She had been brainwashed and "shielded those people whod picked her..The ones who promised her she wouldnt die. Its obvious now; Cussen lied about their friendship to cover the secret world theyd actually been part of for several years; a world that Ruth could have blown wide open if she had lived. His activation of the Isu artifact had unintended consequences, however, as it merely postponed the . In his police statement he explained, "In order to fire 6 cartridges, it is necessary to cock the trigger six times, as in the case of a revolver pulling the trigger only fires one shot. This painful condition stayed with Ruth for the rest of her life. On April 10 1955, Ruth was ready to end it all and headed to the Magdala pub where David was drinking. He added, "He was a cut above the rest of us, well spoken and well educated, a gentleman" and lived next door at Dapdune. Firstly he joined the RAF aged seventeen, trained mainly in South Africa, was a bomber pilot, throughout the war, flying Lancasters and was demobbed in 1946. Previously, Desmond was a General Counsel at Adenza Group and al Read More Contact Desmond Cussen's Phone Number and Email Last Update 11/20/2022 4:19 PM Email d***@fandom.com Engage via Email Contact Number (***) ***-**** Engage via Phone Mobile Number (***) ***-**** "Ruth had clearly been brainwashed.To the police it was an open and shut case of cold-blooded murder. But in 2019, she had her conviction overturned and finally walked free. I now have evidence of Cussens long term friendship with David Blakely. I have no information to indicate what Ruth was up to. Hub Name . She was convicted of shooting to death her lover David Blakeley, a racing driver. (Another missed entirely and winged a passerby.) "Someone was being protected. One of the pleasures in my new detective role is scrutinising every new lead!So on 2nd May 2002 I wrote to the Leatherhead local paper asking for anyone to contact me if they had memories of wartime in Garlands Road. Nothing about Cussen was quite what it seemed. Coincidentally, Macleans body was brought back from Russia and buried in a secret midnight service in Penn graveyard.Of real significance is the link between Westerham, Brasted, Tatsfield, Tonbridge, Warlingham and Sanderstead on the Surrey-Kent border, more than 20 miles from London; and just three miles from Fort Halstead, with its secret complex of bunkers where Britains Nuclear Weapons programme began.Ruth had connections with all these supposedly unconnected areas. Doris Gearys brother, Frank Watson was the Tatsfield "cabbie" for 60 years, and chauffeur to Donald Maclean when he lived in the village from December 1950 to May 1951. Norman Beaton's wasn't the only tragic death to come out of the Desmond's cast. Ellis, her lawyers argue with backing from a leading forensic psychiatrist, was suffering from post-miscarriage depression. It was an understatement. I am rather confused. He was the marksman that killed Blakely - and got away with it. The Ruth Ellis story wasnt about a crime of passion it looked that way though.The shooting of Blakely obscured the truth about the country in the grips of a spying scandal. Ruths defence counsel Melford Stevenson did nothing for her.Later when I found this statement that Stevenson made on the first morning of the trial, I asked myself what was going on. In May 1950 he returned to England and was kept under surveillance by MI5. Desmond Cussen died a lonely alcoholic, as did her solicitor John Bickford, who remained haunted by the case for the rest of his life. She told me about Ruths last few minutes before her execution. Yesterday Wednesday 4th July 2007, at 2.18 pm, I received the following email from 10 Downing Street: 10 Downing Street - Petition to the Prime Minister has been Approved. She wrote, "The charge was murder and the case had yet to be heard. It's the middle of the night, I can't sleep so I'm going with option #4. My enquiries were met with assurances that nobody knew anything. The scandal that Keeler was having a simultaneous affair with a Soviet spy led to Profumos resignation.Years later it was revealed Ward had been a double agent, working for MI5 and for the KGB.Those who think his spying activities began and ended in 1963 should think again.Stephen Wards involvement with pretty, young girls who became the eyes and ears for his spying activities did not just start suddenly in 1963. What is more, Ruth knew. He then repeated that the other shots had been fired at a distance. Apparently nobody else was involved. There was no need for forensics on Ruth or her possessions or for investigating the case properly. Dapdune was coincidentally just 300 yards from Leatherhead hospital where Arthur Neilson, Muriel Jakubaits father, was an in-patient for a year. Just before I began this chapter, and thanks to a Westerham historian, I received interesting information from a woman who worked at the House at Home public house in Westerham, in the early 1950s. Ruth had a gun hanging from her hand. I received three replies. Mark Frost threw fans a bone and expounded on Annie's fate in his new canon novel Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier, although her ending isn't exactly a cheery one. He groomed and transformed them into somebodies. The so-called witnesses would have seen nothing else, only the eye-catching blonde causing a diversion. Importantly, his statement at the magistrates court "No shot was fired after I came out of the public house" was omitted at the trial. Jakubait and her mother visited Ellis on the eve of her execution. Edward married Caroline Alice Cussen in month 1885, at age 21 at marriage place. It was accepted at the time that the residue from an exploding cartridge is driven backwards on to the hand that pulls the trigger. He must have known about the gun breaking. After picking his way through legal language with Stevenson and Humphreys, Justice Havers found an excuse not to allow a verdict of manslaughter and decided not to leave the issue to the jury. Top people lived there in houses of substance. They said, "The Home Office does not hold the information that you have requested.". As far as I am aware, they have not previously been made public. Yet he did not ask Ruth what made her take a twelve-minute walk in the dark when she could have taken the taxi that she was in. Desmond Cussen Ruth Ellis: The model who smiled at her executioner New exhibition explores the life of the last woman to be put to death in Britain MOST READ 1 Irish cookbook is number one. A firearms expert advised me that accuracy with a .38 Smith and Wesson would have been hopeless except in trained hands. She claimed at the time to have been given the gun by an American serviceman as security for a nightclub debt, and to have taken a taxi to the pub. I have become even more fascinated by information that Id not found before. When I was compiling evidence for our book, I spoke to John Ross, curator of the Crime Museum at New Scotland Yard. This was Cussens one and only trail left anywhere since 1955. Her wedding ring was worn on an adjacent finger. But it was not. "She was very calm. One London address in Kensington stood out. Edit Related Hubs Section. He was Blakelys drinking companion at the Magdala on the night of the shooting. He was a member from the late 1940s until 1955. He was an ARP warden based in General Ironsides house that had been commandeered by the government for the Home Guard when it was first formed. Mr Steel told me how he teamed up with a young man, an only child, about eighteen years old, with straight fair hair, about 59", of muscular build and handsome. She was 5 2", weighed only 7 stone and would have been physically incapable of firing one shot from a heavy, man-size gun, let alone repeatedly pull the trigger, firing six bullets in quick succession. There was no need to consider if 28 year-old Ruth, the 52," 7-stone woman with tiny bird-like hands, one gnarled as a result of rheumatic fever, with poor eyesight and suffering the after effects of a recent miscarriage, was physically capable of shooting anyone. In it was a small, tatty notebook-cum-address book (now kept safe in a bank vault). What is even more interesting is an important discovery I made in a Metropolitan Police document recently released at the Public Record Office and has never been made public: the gun broke during testing. They had tapes back and front to pull. There are 5 other people named Desmond Cussen on AllPeople. He starts to live a fulfilling life. ", At the Old Bailey on 20th June Mrs Yule was not asked if she recognised the prisoner. Forensic expert LC Nickolls said in his police statement, but did not repeat at the trial, that the Smith and Wesson he examined was oily. Contact info: dcussen@gracenote.com, desmondcussen@yahoo.com Find more info on AllPeople about Desmond Cussen and Gracenote, as well as people who work for similar businesses nearby, colleagues for other branches, and more people with a similar name. Evelyn spoke to me following the publication of our book. Desmond Napoles is a teenager who is changing the world. ", At her second court appearance on 28th April she said that she saw a lady in front of the two men. He looked like a spiv with dark, greased back hair; with a round boyish face and an unnatural looking thin moustache. Stevenson had a golden opportunity to get to the truth. "He looked like a rat and was an extremely jealous person, " she says. I noticed this statement made by Clive Gunnell who called himself a Mayfair car salesman. According to a Home Office note, Ellis told Mishcon: "I didn't say anything about it up to now because it seemed traitorous, absolutely traitorous." It was my first lesson in detective work: examine every local connection. He looked like a spiv with dark, greased back hair; with a round boyish face and an unnatural looking thin moustache. By early June 2002 I had pieced together quite a dossier of first hand evidence about Cussen; a bigger picture was developing. I found a letter at the Public Record Office from a Mrs Robinson of Ealing to the Home Secretary. When I began ghost writing Muriel Jakubaits autobiography I intended to find the truth about her sister Ruth. They knew each other for nearly six years, regularly visiting a risky club together in Surrey from the late 1940s. He said, "No scaffold was erected in Holloway prison before the execution of Mrs Ellis. If that had succeeded, she would have been found guilty of manslaughter and spared the gallows. During her comeback at Carroll's, Ruth had made friends with a man named Desmond Edward Cussen. Ruth didnt murder anybody. Sir Paul Beresford MP wrote to Home Secretary Charles Clarke on my behalf. Another mystery: the Metropolitan Police did forensics on the gun and on Blakely but not on Ruth. It would have been crucial in confirming that Cussen was near to the scene of the crime.The authorities appear to have ignored any explanation of events other than the one that would lead to Ruths execution. From my point of view publication of the book was just the beginning. "Is that all right?" "The judge and jury in the original trial did not have the full picture. There are 5 other people named Desmond Cussen on AllPeople. He had no idea, until our book was published three years later, that his Home Guard partner was the same man who would play an important role in Ruth Elliss life and death in 1955. On the surface, the platinum-blond model may. Go and have a chat with her.". With further research I realised that in the late 1940s Garlands Road was no ordinary road. Once at the pub, she peered in to confirm whether David was there. In his autobiography he described her hands as "small and limp. She was hard up, with two children to support. I met Mr Wallis, a retired Leatherhead dentist with an interesting story to tell about the very private Paddock Club at the end of a long gravel drive in the Surrey village of Ashtead. Was the gun produced at the trial and now housed at the Crime Museum, the crime weapon or was it the second gun that Andre saw Cussen cleaning on the day of the shooting? ", Seemingly this was Blakelys habit. Eleanor Hogg was the policewoman who guarded Ruth all night in her cell at Hampstead police station, following her arrest. Much later it emerged that her friend and "sugar. He was no ordinary tobacconist businessman. There are many unanswered questions about who Cussen really was; very little is known about him. All have spoken out for the first time.One gentleman from Penn in Buckinghamshire casually mentioned to me that the family of Donald Maclean had lived in the village for thirty years. She was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. The message reaching the public in 1955 was of the common, peroxide blonde, nightclub manageress who was a part-time prostitute.The message not reaching the public was about the poorly educated, gullible young woman, desperate for money and who probably unwittingly became involved with spying and died in a dramatic way for her country, in the process.Five years before her death, Ruth, looking very different with natural auburn hair, frequented the White Hart Hotel in Brasted, Kent, which was more like a private club. I'd just had a new baby and she said what was he like, and she said she liked the dress I had on. Then he lied at the trial saying "approximately three years.". I struck lucky. All Melford Stevenson had to say was "No questions.". I blinded my eyes from them as she put them on. Cussen seemed to be following Ward around.When the names Ward, Keeler and Profumo cropped up later in the Atlantic hotel, I realised that Cussen whod been staying there for two years was not there by accident. Much later it emerged that her friend and "sugar daddy", Desmond Cussen, an accountant with whom she had had a brief sexual liaison, had driven her to the pub and provided the gun. On 7th July 2005, the day RUTH ELLIS MY SISTERS SECRET LIFE was published, bombings in London shattered the heart of the capital. During the Christmas of 2005 I sorted through information that kept coming in. It was well known apparently in Blakelys social circle. This was the high security research establishment where Britains nuclear weapons programme began and is mentioned in our book. "She was clean, smart, and certainly did not have stains down her clothes. I wonder. ", Ruths defence counsel, Melford Stevenson, stated categorically that Ruth was guilty. But it was not enough to save her, although nine out of 10 women sentenced to death in the 20th century have been reprieved and served jail terms instead. Dance with a Stranger (Widescreen): Amazon.ca: Miranda . Public records show that the phone number (415) 923-6775 is linked to Belinda L Yan, Desmond Cussen Main Address 2765 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94123 Single Family, On street, Attached Garage, 1 space Five bedrooms, Six bathrooms Lot Size - 3,781 sqft, Floor Size - 5,500 sqft Parcel ID# 0950029 Last Sale Apr 2012 - Price $4,795,000 Nickolls did not say what distance. Muriel told me about events at her flat in St Pauls Cray on 11th April 1955. But there was more to the story than came out at the trial. In 1955, at the age of 28, Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in the UK after she shot her lover dead outside a pub in Hampstead two months earlier. Desmond Cussen was born in 1923 in Epsom, Surrey, England, UK. Its clear to me he had some sort of immunity. "The killing was a true crime of passion," says de Maid, the Ellis family solicitor. Andre thought she was funny because she couldnt even shoot a tree and her hands kept shaking.". On 21 May 2005 The Mirror newspaper published an exclusive story, NO PARDON FOR ELLIS. Born 1923 Add or change photo on IMDbPro Add to list More at IMDbPro Contact info Agent info Credits IMDbPro Archive Footage Previous 1 The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story Self (archive footage) TV Series 2018 3 episodes Personal details Edit Born 1923 The real murderer was Desmond Cussen. Justice Havers directed the jury; he was "judge, jury, defence and prosecution. Forensic expert Lewis Charles Nickolls, Director of the Metropolitan Police Laboratory examined the revolver and bullets. At the magistrates court, when asked how long hed known Blakely, Cussen lied saying just over two years. It was here that she soon met the two men who would shape the rest of her life and determine her fate, Desmond Cussen and David Blakely. I knew nothing of the background and I didnt care. Suspiciously he didnt mention the gun breaking during testing. In the press she had already been portrayed as a peroxide blonde tart. This video. It stated he achieved pilot officer status in the General Duties Branch on 10th April 1945 and left on 10th October 1945. But on arrival at Holloway prison, following her arrest, and before she had time to get her story straight, she told the prison doctor she had actually had an abortion.Interestingly on 19th March 1952 a passport, number N9584, was issued to Ruth Ellis. Also residing in the same block of flats in Devonshire Street was a man by the name of Desmond Cussen. Nothing was made of this at her trial. It would seem coincidental that in 1949 the Blakely family moved into a rented house in the village, immediately changing its name. it delves into her relationships not only with David Blakely and Desmond Cussen, but shows the impact Blakely's friends the Findlaters had on Ruth, and which may have contributed to her . As well as provocation, they claim she suffered from diminished responsibility, another partial defence that can reduce a murder charge to manslaughter. Berta told Muriel that Ruth had shot and killed Blakely. Cussen was not arrested. I couldnt tell her.". Constable Thompson was inside the Magdala when he heard "a succession of bangs" outside. Eventually I was permitted to view the file that contained Christmas Humphreys set of magistrates court documents at the Royal Court of Justice in the Strand. Garlands Road is less than two miles from my home. He said, "Ive remembered the young mans name, it was Cussen.". In Assassin's Creed III, Desmond is able to find the Isu device created to stop such an event from happening again, though its use would require Desmond to sacrifice his life. "In effect she signed her own death warrant. He was the older, sugar-daddy, type character that Ellis had turned to when Blakely started getting a bit handy with his fists. Mrs Gladys Yule was a prime witness for the prosecution. Also the "Letter officer" at Holloway prison would have blanked out names on letters that Ruth sent from prison, yet names are clearly mentioned in Ruths correspondence. With many theories about what really happened, this account attempts to lay out the facts, rather than speculating on hearsay and unprovable notions. "As a barrister for fifty years I was just putting the facts of the actual murder. He turned his attentions to Ruth when she was 11. They are a multi-awarded LGBTQ+ advocate, genderfluid editorial and runway model, motivational public speaker, performer, clothing designer, actor, singer, host, social media influencer and published author. Moreen Gleesons encounter with Ruth and Cussen and Ruths subsequent hanging, troubled her. The jury taking 23 minutes to find her guilty. Ruth Ellis did not kill David Blakely. David Blakelys list of property in possession of the Hampstead police in 1955 was recently released for public scrutiny. He groomed her; a fact previously unknown to the public. I would say it was a set up from start to finish. Like Ellis, Challen was subjected to decades of abuse at the hands of her husband and this was recognised in her appeal, which took into account the insidious nature of coercive control. He arrested Ruth after the shooting which happened outside the pub. The jury took less than half an hour to reach a unanimous verdict of guilty.
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