", The day after the hanging, the front-page article of the Daily Sketch demanded, "What are the police doing about this man? During one of many visits to the Public Record Office (PRO) I was surprised to find buried in a Home Office document, that Ruths lover was actually homosexual. Cussen and Co microfiches led to another vital discovery, more proof of Ruths connection with Dr Stephen Ward, who was a key player in the Profumo affair in the 1960s, and circumstantial evidence of Cussens connection to the secret service. Nobody has ever put two-and-two together before.The trumped up murder charge that Ruth admitted to and for which she was hanged obscured the truth about Britain "in the grips of a spying scandal.". Registration Number: 2333870 : Full Name: DESMOND CUSSEN : First Name: DESMOND : It's the middle of the night, I can't sleep so I'm going with option #4. In her letter to Muriel Jakubait she wrote, "When Cussen, as I believe he is named, appeared behind her I was frightened. There was no official explanation.The Donald Maclean connection with Penn illustrates just one of the complicated trails typical of my findings. One led me to a new witness, John Steel, an elderly Leatherhead gent, with a phenomenally accurate memory for everything wartime. Ruth wasnt sentenced to death. In 1941 he was Commander-in-Chief Home Forces, in charge of the Home Guard. There are many unanswered questions about who Cussen really was; very little is known about him. The list certainly existed. Did Stevenson choose not to explain this evidence to the Old Bailey jury? As part of my research, I wanted to compare magistrates court statements with the trial transcript. "Let me make this abundantly plain: there is no question here but this woman shot this man.You will not hear one word from me or from the lady herself questioning that.". Hanged killer Ruth Ellis has been secretly denied a pardon by the Government, documents reveal. They used to work . It was a place where the best people from London secretly congregated when there were parties on. Ruth made Muriel promise never to tell anyone about his obscene behaviour.Ward, the "vice peddler" created Ruth Ellis. I find it questionable that Ruth managed to shoot six rounds of live ammunition, firing four bullets into David Blakley, then the gun breaks during testing thereby destroying evidence. They had tapes back and front to pull. Previous Article Do different brands of antidepressants work differently? The appeal asked that the murder conviction be changed to that of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility . On 21 May 2005 The Mirror newspaper published an exclusive story, NO PARDON FOR ELLIS. He was usually portrayed as Blakely's scathing rival for Ruth's affections. The Cussen and Co microfiches led to another breakthrough in my investigation. Andre didnt say much to Muriel that day except that hed seen Uncle Desmond cleaning and oiling two guns in his Goodwood Court flat the day before. 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. Clare Dyer talks to Ellis's sister, who is leading the fight to have the conviction changed, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Statements Mrs Yule made between 11th April and 20th June were inconsistent. Since our book was published in 2005 I found the statement Nickolls made at the magistrates court on 28th April. 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. Its a long walk from Tanza Road to the Magdala which is the nearest pub. She suffered a nervous breakdown and moved to Australia where she later became a midwife. Her wedding ring was worn on an adjacent finger. "Cussen, on the other hand, verbally abused her and I guess she didn't know any better because of what our father was like." Muriel disliked wealthy businessman Desmond Cussen from the beginning. Melford Stevenson QC, also overlooked this important detail. Fandom General Counsel. "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 was word perfect. "Fifty years on, government turn down reprieve for hanged Ruth Ellis. Nothing was made of this at her trial. She had not admitted it before because of getting "someone into possible trouble. 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. A prison officer who had sat in on the interview confirmed Mishcon's account but added that Ellis had said she asked Cussen for the gun, a detail that was to prove crucial to the Home Secretary's decision to let her hang. Ruth Ellis and David Blakely were a tragedy waiting to happen. Before she reached the Old Bailey her fate was determined. "The judge and jury in the original trial did not have the full picture. During the Christmas of 2005 I sorted through information that kept coming in. This was Cussen's one and only trail left anywhere since 1955. She recalled that on occasions "Ruth would come in on her own, invariably crying saying David had vanished. Then he lied at the trial saying "approximately three years.". Also residing in the same block of flats in Devonshire Street was a man by the name of Desmond Cussen. Available for both RF and RM licensing. 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. Mishcon rushed to the Home Office and the permanent secretary, Sir Frank Newsam, was tannoyed at Ascot races. Extraordinarily Stevenson had, "No Questions.". I wonder. 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. The visit of Dr Joost de Blank who was the Bishop of Stepney at that time was mentioned in both of his published biographies. "She was clean, smart, and certainly did not have stains down her clothes. Another mystery: the Metropolitan Police did forensics on the gun and on Blakely but not on Ruth. 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. Constable Thompson was inside the Magdala when he heard "a succession of bangs" outside. Garlands Road is less than two miles from my home. The Castle itself dates back to the 13th Century but the main . It followed my discovery of Desmond Cussens signature on a business document in 1964 while he was lying low at a London hotel. Why werent samples taken from the accused as well as the deceased? So they take him in. (Another missed entirely and winged a passerby.) 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. Discover short videos related to Desmond Cussen on TikTok. It was well known apparently in Blakelys social circle. He arrested Ruth after the shooting which happened outside the pub. 27,814: He asked if he would ensure that this type of thing would not happen again. Suspiciously he didnt mention the gun breaking during testing. Ruth lied in court. Evidence showing that Ruth was innocent of the crime she was hanged for.We also identify the group of people in Ruths circle who conspired against her, planned the murder of Blakely with military precision and left Ruth holding a smoking gun.The day before Ruth was hanged, having dismissed her solicitor Mr Bickford who represented her at her trial, she was visited in the condemned cell at Holloway prison by Mr Mishcon, now Lord Mishcon, and Mr Simmons, solicitors whom she consulted on domestic matters prior to the murder.Simmons asked her what really happened on the day of the shooting. He was an off-duty policeman who happened to be in the Magdala that fateful evening. Sometime between the committal proceedings at the magistrates court in April and Ruths trial in June 50 years ago, words had been mysteriously crossed through in key witness statements; other words had been inserted, giving totally different meanings. This was the high security research establishment where Britains nuclear weapons programme began and is mentioned in our book. She was undoubtedly indebted to him. This was quite a find; the first in a series of lucky breaks, opening the door to some significant findings. 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. 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. What is more, Cussen was not the docile character wed been led to believe even as a young man he was a crack shot. Philip Dewey tells the story of Ruth Ellis, whose death paved the way for capital punishment to be abolished. Ruth said she shot David Blakely in a jealous rage, believing he was having an affair. 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. "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. He rather resembled Ellis in looks. If not, why not?". Nickolls did not say what distance. Attorney Information. Secondly he was wealthy, became a director of a family-owned retail and wholesale tobacconist business called Cussen and Co. And thirdly from the early 1950s he lived in a prestigious apartment in Goodwood Court near Harley Street. 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. He drove Ruth to Hampstead - that is not in doubt. She told him that she was not the lone, cold-blooded killer she had seemed at her trial. When he was just a child, for example, he once walked six miles to donate blood to an . 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. He does just that, saving Earth, and seemingly ending his story. how are biotic and abiotic factors related; peterbilt 379 for sale in kansas; rental security deposit interest calculator pa I'd just had a new baby and she said what was he like, and she said she liked the dress I had on. Wikimedia Commons Desmond Doss was famously portrayed in the movie Hacksaw Ridge, but his true story is even more incredible. 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. 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. She read something about Cussen and the murder in a national paper but dismissed it as "ill-informed." She broke her silence, confessing to her solicitors that Cussen supplied the gun. Stevenson had a golden opportunity to get to the truth. are takis halal; derrick stafford nba referee; what does it mean when a guy sends you a picture of himself shirtless. 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. He must have known about the gun breaking. Fiona Mactaggart MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State replied to Sir Paul Beresfords letter: "The case of Ruth Ellis has always attracted interest over the years and more particularly in this the fiftieth anniversary of her execution. See Desmond Cussen's age, phone number, house address, email address, social media accounts, public records, and check for criminal records on Spokeo. The establishment murdered her. According to another, recently opened, Metropolitan Police document dated 24th June 1955 (two days after Ruth was found guilty at the Old Bailey) Hampstead police handed her property to her solicitor Mr Bickford against "Receipt number 99.". Her trial for murder was pushed through in just over a day. In May 1950 he returned to England and was kept under surveillance by MI5. It summed up the case to a tee. By early June 2002 I had pieced together quite a dossier of first hand evidence about Cussen; a bigger picture was developing. I wondered. However as we know now that Ruth lied at her trial from start to finish, it would be fair to assume she lied when she claimed shed only known Blakely for two years. It all looks extremely suspicious. In the 90s, however, judges softened the law on provocation, opening it up to battered women and others whose self-control was affected by despair or depression. 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. There is a final postscript to the Ruth Ellis story. Somewhere hidden in books written about the Cold War, Cussens other identity is waiting to be uncovered. 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 lied again at Ruths trial when he said on oath that hed known Blakely "Approximately three years.". Then she admitted she would not recognise "the blonde woman again who shot Blakely. During her comeback at Carroll's, Ruth had made friends with a man named Desmond Edward Cussen. 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. 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. But neither Frost's book nor . 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. But Ruth lied. Let alone repeatedly pull the trigger on a heavy man-size .38 Smith and Wesson gun that required a 10lb pull for each shot fired; it would have been impossibly large in her hand, its recoil would have knocked her backwards. what happened to desmond cussen. To all intents and purposes she appeared to shoot Blakely. "Would you pull these tapes Evelyn, Ill pull the others." But two months later at the Old Bailey when questioned by the prosecuting counsel Christmas Humphreys, Nickolls was economical with his words. He was recruiting girls from the late 1940s.Ward and his post-war close friend, society and stars photographer Antony Beauchamp, who was married to Winston Churchills daughter Sarah, were working together in their sordid profession, making something of young girls from the right background.Wards skill was "finding uneducated girls from a poor background." Her parents Berta and Arthur Neilson, Ruths son Andre and Desmond Cussen arrived on her doorstep unexpectedly. Theyd actually enjoyed each others company for approximately six years; something that has never been made public. Shut away in a previously closed file is a police statement made by Nickolls on 25th April 1955 along with a further one-page report written on the identical date but on Metropolitan Police Laboratory headed notepaper. That day Melford Stevenson applied for the case to be postponed until after 14th June, "Owing to the large number of enquiries still to be made by the defence."

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