Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Catherine Atkinson has released a statement following the conditional pardon.

"For 70 years, Ruth Ellis’s family have carried the weight of what happened to her. Today we recognise the exceptional circumstances surrounding her case and the impact they had on her life," she says.

"I want to thank her grandchildren for their determination in bringing this case forward, and for making sure her story was finally heard."

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The King has granted Ruth Ellis a conditional pardon after she was convicted of the murder of her lover David Blakely and given a sentence of execution in 1955.

At the time, the charge carried a mandatory death sentence.

Her family had long requested a conditional pardon saying she had been abused by her victim.

Ellis has posthumously been granted a conditional pardon - one of the options available to the British monarch under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

It's not an acquittal - and doesn't undo her conviction - only the courts have that option for relevant cases - but the pardon swaps her sentence for a lesser one.

Unlike court appeals, pardons can consider broader factors, such as social developments, that may render a conviction or its resulting punishment inappropriate or unfair.

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The granddaughter of Ruth Ellis says "justice has finally been done" after her posthumous conditional pardon was announced, and that her family is "deeply grateful" to Justice Secretary David Lammy.

In a statement, Laura Enston says the pardon matters profoundly to her family. It "does not undo what happened 71 years ago. It does not restore the lives that were broken - the children left behind, the years lost. But it says, formally and finally, that Ruth should not have been executed; that the justice system failed her".

Enston says her grandmother was a victim of sustained and brutal abuse.

"Her children – our mother and uncle – never recovered. My uncle took his own life; my mother’s trauma left her unable to be the parent we needed. The shadow of Ruth’s execution has fallen across two generations. We have carried shame that was never ours to bear."

She says she hopes the story of Ruth Ellis serves as a reminder that "the justice system must reckon with the abuse that drives women to the edge" and must "never be afraid to acknowledge when it has got things wrong".

We can now bring you more of Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy's comments about the conditional pardon granted to Ruth Ellis.

"I have the honour to say that His Majesty the King has accepted our advice to grant Ruth Ellis a conditional pardon, the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom," Lammy told MPs.

"While the pardon does not claim she was innocent of killing David Blakely, it replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment to recognise a profound injustice in this exceptional case.

"We hope this brings a measure of peace to Ruth Ellis' family who have carried the weight of what happened to her for over 70 years."

As we reported moments ago, towards the end of the session Lammy announced that Ruth Ellis had been granted a conditional pardon - which is one that "substitutes one sentence for another". Her sentence has been commuted from execution to life in prison.

Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain - with her execution taking place on 13 July 1955 after she was convicted of murdering her lover David Blakely.

Ellis shot Blakely outside The Magdala pub in Hampstead, London, following a tumultuous relationship involving infidelity on both sides.

Last year, her grandchildren called for a posthumous pardon, saying she was physically and emotionally abused by her partner before she killed him - they applied to Lammy at the time for a conditional pardon.

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Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has now left the Commons as this week's Prime Minister's Question concludes.

In our next post, we'll bring you more information about Ruth Ellis, who Lammy announced is being granted a conditional posthumous pardon.

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Lammy is then asked about Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK in 1955 after being convicted for the murder of her abusive lover.

The deputy prime minister announces that the King has granted Ellis a conditional pardon, meaning that her sentence will be commuted from execution to life in prison.

He adds that he hopes the decision provides some peace to her family.

• We'll bring you more on the Ruth Ellis case soon

MPs seemingly presenting their wish lists to Andy Burnhampublished at 12:42 BST

12:42 BST

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Some MPs are using this session to present their wish lists to Andy Burnham, who is widely expected to take over as PM later this month.

Labour’s Emily Darlington called for the government to ban political deepfakes by backing her amendment to the Representation of the Peoples Act.

Green MP Emily Chowns urged the government to back electoral reform - something Burnham has spoken about in the past.

Green Party Westminster leader Ellie Chowns says "we urgently need to rebuild trust in democracy" and asks if Lammy agrees that proportional representation is an idea that needs to come "before the next general election".

Lammy says he's "pleased" that the issue of votes and democracies has been raised.

But he says in local elections, a Green Councillor in Lewisham described Lammy and the shadow foreign secretary "as coconuts".

"Her party looked the other way, kept her candidate in post and have rewarded that candidate with a council job," he says.

Lib Dems deputy leader Daisy Cooper turns the focus from justice to Nigel Farage, starting her intervention by noting that the Reform UK's leader has been known to frequently use the phrase "leave means leave".

But it seems his latest stunt is to leave this place just to return after not just one referendum on his behaviour, but possibly two, she says.

Will the deputy PM delay the resignation until the standards investigation into Farage is complete, Cooper asks.

Lammy replies that everyone can see the Reform leader is just trying to distract that he's "up to his neck" in sleaze.

Farage has serious questions to answer and Labour won't be part of the circus, he adds.

Lammy says the by-election is claimed to be the people versus the establishment - but in fact it’s the politician who is pals with crypto billionaires versus Count Binface, to huge laughter in the chamber.

Cooper says it's clear it's a two horse race, to more laughter.

She goes to on ask about an MI5 agent who attacked his girlfriend, and asks if the deputy PM offer her a fuill apology.

Lammy says he will arrange for the agent's former girlfriend to meet the security minister.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Reform MPs Richard Tice and Lee Anderson cry “chicken” and “cowards” as David Lammy attacks their leader for using his by-election bid as a “distraction” from sleaze.

Tice even ventures a slightly half hearted chicken impression.

Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems and Greens have all said they will not be standing in Clacton.

As we mentioned earlier, Farage is giving PMQs a miss.

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Interestingly, James Cleverly chose to turn DPMQs into justice questions - trying to hold David Lammy to account for his other role as justice secretary.

He repeatedly pushed Lammy to apologise for letting serious criminals out early - before turning to controversial plans to scrap some jury trials.

Lammy hit back with statistics about the Conservatives’ record on early release and prison closures.

Cleverly says the government is "stripping" money where it is needed and spending it on welfare.

He claims the welfare bill has "ballooned" by £20bn this year alone.

Cleverly adds that during the Tory government there were more police officers at any time in British history and since Labour took power that number has dropped by 2,000.

He says the incoming prime minister, which is likely to be Andy Burnham, should come out and condemn this plan.

Lammy replies, saying Cleverly "cannot count" and the country lost 16,000 police officers when he was in government.

He says people haven't forgotten what the Tories did to our country, adding: "I'll take our record to theirs any day of the week".

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Today's debate a reminder of the odd transitional phase British politics is inpublished at 12:29 BST

12:29 BST

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

The subject chosen by Sir James Cleverly for today’s session of PMQs has been pretty extensively debated in different forms over the past two years.

One of the first acts of this Labour government was for Shabana Mahmood, then the justice secretary, to announce that prisons were significantly more overcrowded than ministers had realised and as a result more prisoners would have to be released earlier in their sentences.

That policy has continued since Lammy succeeded Mahmood as justice secretary.

Yet what we do not know is whether Andy Burnham (the “soon to be prime minister” as James Cleverly put it) agrees with the way in which the early release scheme has been implemented.

After all it was this time last week, just after PMQs, when Burnham made a significant policy intervention in a different area of home affairs policy, saying as prime minister that he would seek to deport the ringleader of a notorious grooming gang in Rochdale.

It is very unlikely anything like that will come today on this subject area, but it’s a reminder of the slightly odd transitional phase British politics is currently in.

Cleverly now turns to Lammy's "personal crusade" to scrap trial by jury and asks if the deputy PM will admit it is wrong and commit to "reverse his proposals".

Lammy says there is "no proposal" before the House of Commons to scrap trial by jury and adds Cleverly needs "to do better and get on the detail".

He adds there is "a threshold change", and says ex-PMs Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron previously made changes to jury trials.

Lammy says the "vast majority" of criminal cases are dealt with magistrates, before going on to list Labour investments in the court system.

Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly says Lammy will look back on this exchange and be shocked by how this is coming across.

There has been no apology to the victims, Cleverly claims, and no guarantee that paedophiles and rapists will not be released early.

Her says Lammy is "hellbent on releasing dangerous criminals by accident."

Cleverly mentions accidental releases from prison and asks if Lammy will apologise to the country for his abject failure for keeping prisoners in prison.

Lammy says this is rich, and says the Tories had 14 long years in power, when they wrecked neighbourhood policing, he says, and prisons were at bursting point.

He then lists measures the government is taking, with more police, and adds that they need the space to lock up criminal that’s why they passed the sentencing bill.

In his next question, Cleverly sticks with prison releases.

He says Lammy talks of 10,000 early releases in the 14 years of Tory government, when the Labour government has released "50,000 in two years".

"He knows it's wrong," Cleverly says adding that there are 400 Labour MPs and "not one voted to support government policy" last night.

He asks for a guarantee that not one "rapist or paedophile" will be released early later on this year.

Lammy reiterates the Tories haven't said what they would do if in office - repeating the 10,000 figure.

He points to Labour bringing in more probation officers, rolling out the "largest" tagging programme, and references other bans they have implemented.

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Cleverly retorts by saying that Labour has allowed 50,000 prisoners to be released early in two years.

He says he is shocked that Lammy failed to apologise and quotes a grooming gangs victim, saying she feels "constantly anxious, frightened and unsafe" over the prospect of the early release scheme.

"Why is he pursuing policy he must know is both wrong and dangerous?" he asks.

Lammy says the Tories had an early release scheme that let out 10,000 offenders and the party left a system with just 83 empty cells.

He says we are giving every victim notice and discussing the plans with them: "Of course, we think of every victim and that’s why we’re notifying victims, in discussion with all victims. I sat last week in my surgery with a victim of grooming gangs. All of us want to see offenders locked up - that’s why we’ve got to have prison capacity."

Lammy responds by criticising Cleverly's role in the previous government.

He describes it as "a serious issue" and says every decision is based on "public safety and delivering justice for victims".

He continues to say the previous Labour government built prison places and is doing so again now, adding that the Conservatives closed 23 prisons during their 14-year tenure, going on to list a number of them.

"That's why we have an early release scheme," he says.

Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly asks if David Lammy will apologise to the victims of the rapists, sexual predators and paedophiles that Cleverly claims he is planning to release early.

For context: Proposed changes to the Sentencing Act, which are due to be discussed in Parliament, include reducing the amount of jail time some prisoners will serve, which the government said would reduce overcrowding.

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