In the 1930s, a new 'condemned suite' was built comprising a spacious cell that was just 15 paces away from the execution chamber. Initially the death chamber was an 'execution shed' erected near B wing, that included gallows that allowed for two people to be hanged side by side. On the day of her execution a crowd of some 500 people gathered outside Holloway, with some banging on the doors urging Ellis to pray with them.Īlthough more women spent time in Holloway's 'condemned cell', the 1957 Homicide Act led to the commuting of all following death sentences. Thousands signed a petition urging her sentence to be commuted and her family had campaigned to have her conviction changed from murder to manslaughter on grounds of provocation, arguing Mr Blakely hit her and caused her to have a miscarriage. Maxine Carr, girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley, spent time at the prison after admitting perverting the course of justice when she gave Huntley a false alibi to police investigating the murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be executed in Britain in 1955 for the murder of her boyfriend David Blakely.Īfter he refused to see her, she lay in wait outside the Magdala pub in north London and shot him five times.Ī former model and nightclub hostess, she was arrested by an off-duty police officer, quickly convicted and then hanged at Holloway.
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She was found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey and executed in December 1954. Then 31 years later 51-year-old Greek woman Styllou Pantopiou Christofi was sentenced to death for murdering her German daughter-in-law Hella Bleicher at her Hampstead flat out of jealousy of her relationship with son Stavros.Ĭhristofi hit the younger woman over the head with a pan before strangling her and trying to dispose of her body by burning it.
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The grounds have stood empty since the site was closed in 2016Įdith Thompson was another controversial case in 1923 after she was executed for the murder of husband Percy, committed with lover Freddie Bywaters, with her conviction based upon a series of love letters exchanged with Bywaters. P arks, a sensory garden and commercial spaces also feature in the design. The developer Peabodys will flatten the area once again, but plans to keep a nod to its past with a Women's Building where troubled women can access support. The prison was completely rebuilt between 19 on the same site to modernise its facilities and around 500 women were kept in its cells at any given time. It is where Ruth Ellis was hanged in 1955 after being sentenced to death for shooting her lover outside a pub. It also hosted a third of all female executions in the UK in the 20th Century. The jail first opened in 1852 before becoming the UK's first female-only prison in 1902, going on to house infamous inmates including murderers Myra Hindley and Rose West. The institution, which was once the largest women's prison in Europe, housed suffragettes during the time they were force fed while taking part in hunger strikes to campaign for the right to vote in the early 20th century.
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The 164-year-old Holloway Women's Prison could be turned into nearly 1,000 homes after a planning application was submitted today.įourteen buildings up to 14 storeys in height are expected to be constructed on the site of the former women's prison - five years after it last housed inmates.