He was the older, sugar-daddy, type character that Ellis had turned to when Blakely started getting a bit handy with his fists. I couldnt tell her.". The so-called crime of passion, for which Ruth hanged, was cleverly crafted to appear that way though. He groomed and transformed them into somebodies. Desmond ran away; somehow made it on a bus, and went far away. The statement was changed to read "The accused was firing the gun into his back," not the same. In the Air Force List at the Public Record Office the entry for Desmond Cussen, 197248, was odd. From my point of view publication of the book was just the beginning. She and her husband Donald Maclean Yule (who was not called to give evidence) were walking to the Magdala for a Sunday evening drink. 1 Practice area Intellectual property 100% Licensed for 32 years StateCA StatusActive Acquired1991 Updated12/01/2022 I told him that Muriel Jakubait wished to handle the gun (displayed in the Museum) that was retrieved at the scene of the shooting. On her second appearance on 20 th April, Desmond Cussen was called as a police witness. Since our book was published in 2005 I found the statement Nickolls made at the magistrates court on 28th April. This painful condition stayed with Ruth for the rest of her life. He drove Ruth to Hampstead - that is not in doubt. 30,029: San Francisco Late Stage Companies With More Than $1M in Revenue . Trivia (1) Cousin of Edward Cussen. ", Ruths defence counsel, Melford Stevenson, stated categorically that Ruth was guilty. "He looked like a rat and was an extremely jealous person, " she says. Desmond Cussen is Senior VP:Business/Gen Counsel at Gracenote Inc. See Desmond Cussen's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. ", In 1955, Ruth Ellis was hanged for murder. Desmond Cussen is an attorney registered with , admitted in 1990. Desmond eventually escaped the Templars' grasp and went on to help the Assassins and fulfill his destiny. Home Office documents released only in 1999 reveal that Ellis made a dramatic death-cell revelation on the morning before her execution to a prominent solicitor, Victor Mishcon. With her tiny hand she couldnt have even thumbed the trigger guard back. 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. Recently released hospital prison records reveal that Ruth fabricated the main thread of her defence. 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. There is a final postscript to the Ruth Ellis story. There was no official explanation.The Donald Maclean connection with Penn illustrates just one of the complicated trails typical of my findings. She calmly admitted murdering Blakely. Extraordinarily Stevenson had, "No Questions.". Sylvia remembers how the landlord, Ernie Dumbleton, would say, "Ruths here and boyfriend has hooked off again and shes quite tearful. Quite by chance, in December 2003 I made another major discovery. Major Lloyd-George lied in his reply to Mr Hyde. Ellis had two young children but, despite huge public sympathy and newspaper campaigns for a reprieve, she was hanged on July 13 1955, only 13 weeks after she shot Blakely dead and three weeks after the trial. Eleanor Hogg was the policewoman who guarded Ruth all night in her cell at Hampstead police station, following her arrest. A firearms expert advised me that accuracy with a .38 Smith and Wesson would have been hopeless except in trained hands. As soon as I read these two sentences in Ruths police statement I knew she was lying and protecting someone: "I took a taxi and as I arrived, Davids car drove away from Findlaters [Blakelys car mechanic friend] address. Desmond Cussen, a potential murder suspect, was never interrogated Credit: Alamy Blakely, who had lived with her on and off for two years, had seemingly left her. 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. With further research I realised that in the late 1940s Garlands Road was no ordinary road. As stated earlier he was a director of the family business, a wholesale tobacconists called Cussen & Co. Ruth's 27 th birthday on 9 th October 1953 was a particularly memorable one. Over the years, Desmond Cussen, Ruths so-called alternative lover, has been described as a bit of a drip, an unassuming, docile, father figure. I now have evidence of Cussens long term friendship with David Blakely. In 1949 David Blakely began his National Service but within weeks was released and on his way to Penn. Her daughter, Georgina, then a toddler, child of her estranged husband, George Ellis, an alcoholic dentist, was adopted and died, aged 50, of cancer. Ruth and Rawlinson shook hands in her cell after the three-minute hearing. Her counsel, Melford Stevenson, had wanted to argue provocation as a defence. 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. The story about spying and the shadowy characters in Ruth's circle continued to unravel by an extraordinary twist of fate. It was accepted at the time that the residue from an exploding cartridge is driven backwards on to the hand that pulls the trigger. Desmond Cussen was born in 1923 in Epsom, Surrey, England, UK. she said to me. But he made no attempt to show all the evidence to the jury and let them draw their own conclusions. The wistful, sad-eyed young woman with neat short hair and a single strand of pearls in the sepia-tinged photo could have been snipped from the pages of Country Life. I wonder. Her son, Andy, then nearly 10, killed himself in his 20s. But two months later at the Old Bailey when questioned by the prosecuting counsel Christmas Humphreys, Nickolls was economical with his words. Now Desmond shared with Blakely and Ward a love of motor-racing, however, he also shared the affections of Ruth Ellis. She was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. When he was just a child, for example, he once walked six miles to donate blood to an . The events of 10th April did not happen as she had described them in her police statement. He was usually portrayed as Blakely's scathing rival for Ruth's affections. He said there was no evidence on which a jury could possibly conclude that it was a case of provocation, and left the jury no choice but to convict her of murder. The list certainly existed. obituary sophia martinez gokey. Might the results of the test firing of the gun have planted a seed of doubt in the minds of the jury about Ruths shooting capability? Ruth didnt murder anybody. Why didnt he ask Nickolls about the distance from which the other bullets were fired? It was against a womans dignity. But there was more to the story than came out at the trial. I could not give her an answer. The impression of the "ineffective drip" was quite misleading. This was Cussens one and only trail left anywhere since 1955. I believe she thought that at the last minute they'd say, 'You'll go to prison instead.'". 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. "Ruth had clearly been brainwashed.To the police it was an open and shut case of cold-blooded murder. Originally he described Ruth pursuing Blakely and pointing the gun at his back. "According to their police statements, Cussen dropped Ruth and her son Andre at her flat in Kensington at 7.30 pm on the evening of the shooting and didnt see her again until she was in prison. It is standard procedure in all police stations for the arresting officer to make a list of possessions belonging to the prisoner on a charge sheet. OK 100%100 56 50 669/10 221AW ", Seemingly this was Blakelys habit. Hanged killer Ruth Ellis has been secretly denied a pardon by the Government, documents reveal. In the early 1970s, Mr Bickford, Ruths solicitor, made a statement to Scotland Yard from his home in Malta. Another mystery: the Metropolitan Police did forensics on the gun and on Blakely but not on Ruth. Explore the latest videos from hashtags: #desmond, #desmonddoss, #desmondcroes, #desmondoss, #desmonddennis . 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. A start-up focused on building and hosting e-commerce enabled services marketplaces that allow companies to dynamically match requests from consumers and businesses with qualified service. They used to work . The trial in June, only two months after the shooting, lasted just over a day. Mr Bickford, Ruths solicitor, had evidence but "felt it unwise to call it. From a young age, Desmond Doss, born on February 7, 1919, radiated the kind of empathy that he'd display as a soldier later in life. The two young men worked together at night-time two to three times a week from summer 1940 until April 1941, guarding bombed places against looters and keeping watch for parachutists. That impression was untrue. 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. Desmond Miles (1987 - 2012) was a member of the Assassins and a descendant of numerous familial lines that had sworn an allegiance to the Assassins, including individuals such as Aquilus, Altar Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore, Edward Kenway, and Ratonhnhak:ton. The incident happened 10 days after he punched her in the stomach and caused her to miscarry their baby. At the end of January 2003 Muriel and I met Ross at the Museum to view the weapon used to kill Blakely. Ruth stood no chance against them.The story about spying and the shadowy characters in Ruths circle continued to unravel by an extraordinary twist of fate. The appeal asked that the murder conviction be changed to that of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility . "She was clean, smart, and certainly did not have stains down her clothes. When arrested in 1955, Ruth Ellis maintained that she first met David Blakely two years before, "When I was manageress of the Little Club, Knightsbridge. She was the innocent pawn in a game of espionage planned by intelligence officers whose job was to lie and who wanted to get rid of her. 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! Even I could see that the gun would have been far too large in Ruths tiny hands one of which was gnarled as a result of contracting rheumatic fever at age 15. In the spring of 1969 Ruths widowed 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. what happened to janelle on all of us; faith hedgepeth crime scene photos; why does spawn have one big boot. 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. Registration Number: 2333870 : Full Name: DESMOND CUSSEN : First Name: DESMOND : Looking at the transcript of the trial released over forty years after Ruths death its clear how Ruth Ellis, who pleaded not guilty, was given scant help by our judicial system. Whether he was really aware of her intention to kill David is not clear. Furthermore the recoil after each shot would have knocked her backwards. Desmond Cussen is the General Counsel at Fandom. In March 2002 I contacted Companies House in an attempt to find information about Cussen and Co. Whilst examining hand-written documents on microfiche (luckily still available from Companies House archives) I discovered that Desmond Cussen lived in Garlands Road, Leatherhead with his parents, in a detached house called Dapdune. I contacted anyone who might spread the word about our new findings, from editors of parish magazines and village newsletters to local newspapers in areas connected with the story.Three years of detective work has taught me there will always be more to discover. The only way to find out about RAF personnel is to call up their service record. Desmond Cussen was born in 1923 in Epsom, Surrey, England, UK. He looked like a spiv with dark, greased back hair; with a round boyish face and an unnatural looking thin moustache. Also residing in the same block of flats in Devonshire Street was a man by the name of Desmond Cussen. He said, "Ive remembered the young mans name, it was Cussen.". As well as provocation, they claim she suffered from diminished responsibility, another partial defence that can reduce a murder charge to manslaughter. They are part of the Legal Counsel team within the Legal Department Desmond graduated from Cornell University School of Law in 1989 and is currently based in San Francisco, United States. He told me on the telephone that Cussen had told him in the early 1960s [at the time of the Profumo scandal] of Ruth Elliss friendship with Dr Stephen Ward. The whole point is that, according to Public Record Office documents, the police in 1955 claimed they were searching for Cussen the evening before Ruth was hanged, to interrogate him about the gun used to kill Blakely; but couldnt find him. "This was the opinion that Christmas Humphreys, the prosecuting counsel at Ruth Elliss murder trial, was still vehemently defending twenty-seven years later when he spoke to Ruths son Andre McCallum. It was well known apparently in Blakelys social circle. For Muriel Jakubait, now 83, that picture of her sister, Ruth, taken just five years before her execution at the age of 28, merits a prominent place in a sitting room stuffed with family mementoes. But Ruth lied. 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. She continued the affair with Blakely, sometimes going to a hotel with Blakely. After Bickfords confession a police investigation followed but no further action regarding Cussen was taken. So they take him in. This was the high security research establishment where Britains nuclear weapons programme began and is mentioned in our book. I found a letter at the Public Record Office from a Mrs Robinson of Ealing to the Home Secretary. She blended in with the special people who congregated there, including nuclear weapons bigwigs from nearby Fort Halstead, top ranking RAF and spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean.I have tracked down witnesses in London, Northumberland, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Buckinghamshire and Australia who have memories of the characters involved in the story. Did her light-coloured suit that she was apparently wearing show evidence of oil residue from the bullets? She wrote, "The charge was murder and the case had yet to be heard. Dapdune was coincidentally just 300 yards from Leatherhead hospital where Arthur Neilson, Muriel Jakubaits father, was an in-patient for a year. She was hard up, with two children to support. Her sister Muriel gave birth to a child through incest with her father, a bully who started sexually abusing Muriel when she was six. Conley made her the manageress of The Little Club in Brompton Road, Knightsbridge. She hadnt spoken to him for over two days, she would not have known where he was going and she couldnt have seen where he was going. Go and have a chat with her.". I have no information to indicate what Ruth was up to. ", The day after the hanging, the front-page article of the Daily Sketch demanded, "What are the police doing about this man? What happened to Ruths blood spattered clothes? Ruth said she shot David Blakely in a jealous rage, believing he was having an affair. "The judge and jury in the original trial did not have the full picture. the stylings and visuals evoke an inky, foggy london that was still struggling to get back on its feet after world war ii. But in 2019, she had her conviction overturned and finally walked free. There was no need for forensics on Ruth or her possessions or for investigating the case properly. - LOST EXPLAINED FAQ 17 views Aug 21, 2022 6 Dislike Share Save LOST EXPLAINED 7.97K subscribers Welcome to the LOST EXPLAINED FAQ. All these aspects were left unsaid at the trial. 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. 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. It came as something of a surprise to find a hand written document signed by Cussen in London in May 1964. Ruths sister Muriel Jakubait found her mothers handbag, tucked away in a chest of drawers. I should have demanded to hear the defence if I was the jury. 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. Since the winter of 2005 I have made discoveries about Cussens service record; thats another story. Ruth was hanged to protect the shadowy characters she mixed with and took her secrets to an unconsecrated grave at Holloway prison. There are no answers to any of these questions in any police file about the case. They said, "The Home Office does not hold the information that you have requested.". I knew nothing of the background and I didnt care. Its worth mentioning here that Peter Rawlinson (now Lord Rawlinson) Ruths junior defence counsel, met Ruth at the Old Bailey on 11th May one month after her arrest. Ellis, 28, put to bed her. I struck lucky. Newsam advised the home secretary: "It would be a bad day for this country if we adopted the doctrine of crime passionelle This was a deliberately planned and cold-bloodedly executed murder.". She recalled that on occasions "Ruth would come in on her own, invariably crying saying David had vanished. He then repeated that the other shots had been fired at a distance. Its clear from a Holloway hospital case paper (opened since the publication of our book) that Ruths condition was known about. He does just that, saving Earth, and seemingly ending his story. Then he lied at the trial saying "approximately three years.". Her trial for murder was pushed through in just over a day. Carrinho; upper canada soap hand sanitizer If not, why not?". I took her in. 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. It was not a defence in 1955 but was enacted two years later, largely as a result of Ellis's case. He was usually portrayed as Blakely's scathing rival for Ruth's affections. Its a long walk from Tanza Road to the Magdala which is the nearest pub. She shot her lover, David Blakely, outside the Magdala pub in Hampstead on the night of Easter Sunday, 1955, felling him with one bullet and pumping four more into him before an off-duty policeman removed the revolver from her hand. Theyd been housed there since 1996. He lied again at Ruths trial when he said on oath that hed known Blakely "Approximately three years.". He was Blakelys drinking companion at the Magdala on the night of the shooting. One bullet was fired at close range, therefore the other three bullet wounds in Blakelys body, had been fired accurately from a distance, out of arms reach. After all, he transformed her, gave her nice clothes, made her feel special.Vickie Martin, Ruths best friend, was another of Wards proteges. It would seem coincidental that in 1949 the Blakely family moved into a rented house in the village, immediately changing its name. Ruth made Muriel promise never to tell anyone about his obscene behaviour.Ward, the "vice peddler" created Ruth Ellis. In Tales of Tatsfield, author Doris Geary wrote, "I had known Ruth Ellis as a kind, good looking woman; we had laughed and talked together and we had liked each other." She said Ruth was wearing spotlessly clean, pale coloured clothing that night. He discussed at length "unlike his near silent performance in court" the question of provocation; a peculiar contrast to his court appearance. She read something about Cussen and the murder in a national paper but dismissed it as "ill-informed." More than 17 books and the 1985 film Dance with a Stranger have looked at the events leading up to Ellis's execution, but answers to some of the puzzles that remained unsolved have emerged only in the past few years. Category: Blog Post navigation. Before she reached the Old Bailey her fate was determined. In a postscript he added, "I should be interested to know from a medical point of view, the present state of her joints.". This sensational finding was pivotal in uncovering the real Ruth Ellis story.Most people associate Wards name with the 1960s Profumo scandal. The only documented evidence being two entries on the voters list for 1950 and 1951.The defection of Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess was being planned at that time.By 1949 Maclean was under suspicion for passing secrets to the Russians. Monday, 11 March 2013 Ruth Ellis Ruth Ellis, fifty eight years after her execution, is still a controversial figure in the history of British Justice. Jakubait remembers no mention of her sister's imminent death, only small talk. Constable Thompson was inside the Magdala when he heard "a succession of bangs" outside. All the big names in spying were there: Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Menzies, Cowgill, Sinclair, Footman, Burke Trend . She was not looked upon as the common peroxide blonde prostitute as shes been portrayed over the years. 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. Ruth had protected Cussen in her police statement, claiming a man gave her the gun in a club three years previously. Desmond Cussen was an expert liar, disguised as a boring businessman and usually portrayed as Blakelys rival for Ruths attention. If the gun had a long-standing defect, why did it not break on the first firing at the scene of the murder? Forensic expert Lewis Charles Nickolls, Director of the Metropolitan Police Laboratory examined the revolver and bullets. He gave the prosecution an easy time, subjecting prosecution witnesses to a minimum of cross-examination. 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. It was my first lesson in detective work: examine every local connection. 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 Stevenson could have established what really happened. 1940 is a long time ago. Attorney Information. As she awaited the death sentence Ruth Ellis only cried once, when an MP tried to cajole her into seeking clemency, according to Home Office files in the National Archives. The pair frequently visited the Paddock Club, which was a mile or so from Cussens Leatherhead family home, since the late 1940s. 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.