Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a conditional posthumous pardon to Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in the UK, signalling a shift in historical perspective, in which the execution took place. A review led by the UK Attorney General, also Shabana Mahmood, found Ellis’s death sentence inappropriate due to her history of abuse, who the review highlighted as a key factor. Ellis was fatally shot, killing David Blakely in 1955, a crime that shocked the nation. The pardon does not expunge her criminal record but formally recognizes the abuse she experienced and the improper character of capital punishment, during that period.