Miss Gleeson went to the police twice, and a solicitor, but they disregarded her evidence. Cussen, her "alternative" lover, wound her up like a spring, got her drunk, drove her to the scene of the crime and put a gun in her hand. This led to a discovery of a secret service stronghold there in the early 1950s.Commentators of the Ruth Ellis story focused on Blakelys mother Anne and stepfather Humphrey Cook when they lived at the Old Park in Penn in 1955. She wrote, "The charge was murder and the case had yet to be heard. 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.". The next few months were busy. Over the years, Desmond Cussen, Ruth's so-called alternative lover, has been described as a bit of a drip, an unassuming, docile, father figure. 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. So they take him in. He lied again at Ruths trial when he said on oath that hed known Blakely "Approximately three years.". Cussen, who moved to Australia after the trial, has since died. Melford Stevenson QC, assisted by Mr Sebag Shaw and Mr Peter Rawlinson instructed by Messrs Cardew-Smith and Ross appeared on behalf of the prisoner Ruth Ellis. She was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Desmond Cussen works as a General Counsel at Fandom, which is a Broadcasting company with an estimated 200 employees; and founded in 1999. 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. She saw "A lady on the pavement in front of the public house..and saw her chase a man.". This was Cussens one and only trail left anywhere since 1955.After Ruths death, Cussen and Ward moved from their Devonshire Street flats where they were close neighbours, to Bayswater addresses in London; Cussen to Lanterns Hotel in Craven Road, Ward to Orme Square. This was the high security research establishment where Britains nuclear weapons programme began and is mentioned in our book. Furthermore the recoil after each shot would have knocked her backwards. By 4th June 2002, three months after beginning my research, new light had been thrown on Cussens wartime activities. He looked like a spiv with dark, greased back hair; with a round boyish face and an unnatural looking thin moustache. 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. she said to me. He told the jury that she had been "driven to a frenzy which for the time being unseated her understanding". On Easter Sunday, 10th April, Ellis arrived outside the pub where Blakely was drinking. It followed my discovery of Desmond Cussens signature on a business document in 1964 while he was lying low at a London hotel. On Easter Sunday, she told Mishcon, she had been drinking Pernod for many hours with Cussen, who had handed her the loaded gun and driven her to the scene of the murder. Cussen was not arrested. Melford Stevenson QC, also overlooked this important detail. Muriel never could understand why her sister didnt put up a fight, if only for the sake of her children.But its the circumstances of Ruths police statement, in a previously unpublished Home Office file, which were odd.It sounded as if she had previously rehearsed her statement. ", On 27th May 1955, Mr W Mackenzie, medical registrar at St Giles hospital prepared a report for Ruths solicitor Mr Bickford. I was sooo surprised to see that Abstergo got their hands on Desmond's body, he deserved more, not to be experimented on.--------- Monthly giveaway: May 2022. Brilliant fantastic true story classic film "Dance With A Stranger" Ruth Ellis should together Desmond Cussed not David Blakely. I met Mr Wallis, a retired Leatherhead dentist with an interesting story to tell about the very private Paddock Club at the end of a long gravel drive in the Surrey village of Ashtead. More witnesses from 50 years ago had revealing things to say. I suspect that forensics were not carried out on Ruth, and the gun conveniently broke during testing because the results would have saved her and proved she could not have killed Blakely. "She was very calm. A statement made by Police Constable Thompson caught my eye. : >>>>>>; : ; : However, I am unaware of the slowly building campaign to which you have referred. One doesnt assume anything when there is a death sentence looming. The case would be guaranteed open-and-shut. Eventually I was permitted to view the file that contained Christmas Humphreys set of magistrates court documents at the Royal Court of Justice in the Strand. Mackenzie wrote the report six weeks after Ruth allegedly shot her lover, aiming and firing six times with a heavy Smith and Wesson revolver. Available for both RF and RM licensing. She recalled that on occasions "Ruth would come in on her own, invariably crying saying David had vanished. From my point of view publication of the book was just the beginning. She had been brainwashed and "shielded those people whod picked her..The ones who promised her she wouldnt die. What happened to Ruths blood spattered clothes? Yet he did not ask Ruth what made her take a twelve-minute walk in the dark when she could have taken the taxi that she was in. Hub Name . Ruth asked what they were for. Stevenson stuck to his word. Contact info: dcussen@nextdoor.com Find more info on AllPeople about Desmond Cussen and XENEFOX Media Corporation, as well as people who work for similar businesses nearby, colleagues for other branches, and more people with a similar name. It would appear that he was doing nothing. This was quite a find; the first in a series of lucky breaks, opening the door to some significant findings. Stevenson had a golden opportunity to get to the truth. Much later it emerged that her friend and "sugar. Sylvia remembers how the landlord, Ernie Dumbleton, would say, "Ruths here and boyfriend has hooked off again and shes quite tearful. ", Seemingly this was Blakelys habit. 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. It was all too quick. At the time of her trial, the case against Ellis, a nightclub hostess and manager, seemed overwhelming. 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. I wonder. Watch popular content from the following creators: Brayton(@braytontheschoolbullyvip), Desmond Dennis(@desmonddennis), Desmond Dennis(@desmonddennis), Desmond Dennis(@desmonddennis), Desmond(@desmond__2006) . But neither Frost's book nor . The trial in June, only two months after the shooting, lasted just over a day. It was the night he and his colleague Guy Burgess defected to Russia. She was a gift; she was trying to escape from poverty and abuse; she was uneducated; she had a child to support; she had parents who took every penny she earned; and she had a family secret. Edward Cussen was born in month 1863, at birth place, to John Cussen and Helena Frances Cussen. It all looks extremely suspicious. New leads and new evidence has emerged, with precise details of Ruths movements in the late 1940s and early 1950s, all contradicting the accepted Ruth Ellis story thats been repeated for fifty years. Norman Beaton's wasn't the only tragic death to come out of the Desmond's cast. It didnt come out in the trial. 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! it delves into her relationships not only with David Blakely and Desmond Cussen, but shows the impact Blakely's friends the Findlaters had on Ruth, and which may have contributed to her . Her sister Muriel gave birth to a child through incest with her father, a bully who started sexually abusing Muriel when she was six. What is more, Cussen was not the docile character wed been led to believe even as a young man he was a crack shot. Stevenson could have established what really happened. Somewhere hidden in books written about the Cold War, Cussens other identity is waiting to be uncovered. On 11th April the prison medical officer noted that as a teenager she had "rheumatic fever, which was followed with arthritis in the fingers of the left hand and of the ankles." Coincidentally, Macleans body was brought back from Russia and buried in a secret midnight service in Penn graveyard.Of real significance is the link between Westerham, Brasted, Tatsfield, Tonbridge, Warlingham and Sanderstead on the Surrey-Kent border, more than 20 miles from London; and just three miles from Fort Halstead, with its secret complex of bunkers where Britains Nuclear Weapons programme began.Ruth had connections with all these supposedly unconnected areas. She became the lover of the Maharaja of Cooch Behar before being killed in a mysterious car crash in January 1955.By chance I discovered Ward won Ruth a walk-on part in the 1951 film Lady Godiva Rides Again a comedy about beauty contests. Did Stevenson choose not to explain this evidence to the Old Bailey jury? Ruth didnt murder anybody. what happened to desmond cussen. Andre, who was nearly 11 years old, added quite innocently that Uncle Desmond that same day, "drove him and his mother (who was in a state) to a forest to teach his mummy how to shoot. He was perfectly placed when the Profumo fiasco broke in 1963.This discovery opened up a new line of investigation, which in turn led to the infamous spying activities of Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess.The convincing story, spun and repeated for fifty years, disguised the real Ruth Ellis. The notebook tells a revealing story of its own. Desmond Cussen was born in 1923 in Epsom, Surrey, England, UK. I have become even more fascinated by information that Id not found before. In 1941 he was Commander-in-Chief Home Forces, in charge of the Home Guard. At this point I should mention the afternoon of 10th April, the day Blakely was shot. It summed up the case to a tee. Jakubait believes that her sister protected him during the trial because he had promised to look after her family. What is more, Ruth knew. "As a barrister for fifty years I was just putting the facts of the actual murder. On the weekend she killed Blakely, she had been making frantic attempts to contact him at the home of friends. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro Getting Started | Contributor Zone Contribute to This Page Edit page Desmond Cussen Personal Details Biography Other Works The so-called crime of passion, for which Ruth hanged, was cleverly crafted to appear that way though. 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. sharepoint 2013 to 2016 migration checklist. (Another missed entirely and winged a passerby.) Mr Bickford, Ruths solicitor, had evidence but "felt it unwise to call it. This key witness did not see who shot Blakely, "but listening to him being questioned by Humphreys" youd think he did. She and her husband Donald Maclean Yule (who was not called to give evidence) were walking to the Magdala for a Sunday evening drink. I am rather confused. Statements Mrs Yule made between 11th April and 20th June were inconsistent. What is little know though is that Blakely was violent and controlling. As stated earlier he was a director of the family business, a wholesale tobacconists called Cussen & Co. 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. Trivia (1) Cousin of Edward Cussen. OK 100%100 56 50 669/10 221AW Bear in mind foreign travel then was fairly limited apart from business matters. The only information comes from scant details in books over the years about Ruth Ellis. At the end of the first day of the trial, Melford Stevenson, with no jury present, gained a new lease of life. Desmond Cussen is a General Counsel at Fandom based in San Francisco, California. Instead he summarised, "We have heard the evidence about your taking a revolver up to Hampstead and shooting him. Fandom General Counsel. Eleanor Hogg was the policewoman who guarded Ruth all night in her cell at Hampstead police station, following her arrest. He gave his address as the Atlantic Hotel, Queens Gardens in London where I discovered hed lived for two years. 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. She was undoubtedly indebted to him. "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. Reluctantly, at midday on 12 July 1955, the day before her execution, Ellis, having dismissed Bickford, the solicitor chosen for her by her friend Desmond Cussen, made a statement to the solicitor Victor Mishcon (whose law firm had previously represented her in her divorce proceedings but not in the murder trial) and his clerk, Leon Simmons. It appeared to be an open-and-shut case of cold- blooded murder. She was pointing it towards Blakelys dead body. 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. what happened to janelle on all of us; faith hedgepeth crime scene photos; why does spawn have one big boot. Her parents Berta and Arthur Neilson, Ruths son Andre and Desmond Cussen arrived on her doorstep unexpectedly. He was the older, sugar-daddy, type character that Ellis had turned to when Blakely started getting a bit handy with his fists. "Someone was being protected. At her trial, her hair freshly dyed platinum and wearing a well-cut black suit with astrakhan collar and cuffs, she seemed unnaturally cool. 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. With further research I realised that in the late 1940s Garlands Road was no ordinary road. It seems odd therefore that twenty-three days after the start of my research I began uncovering alarming inconsistencies to the accepted story about him.Was it just poor research by commentators over the last fifty years or had those writers been fed misinformation, part of the big lie being spread, to hoodwink the public about the real Ruth Ellis story? 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. Previous Article Do different brands of antidepressants work differently? I dismissed the taxi and walked back down the road to the nearest pub where I saw Davids car outside.". 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. For the past six years, since her brother died, she has carried on the fight alone. For the third time he emphasised that the gun broke during testing. I wondered. Are they going to charge him? What happened Desmond Cussens? He was from an exceptionally well to do family. He rather resembled Ellis in looks. Referring to the rheumatic fever for which Ruth had been admitted to the hospital as a teenager, he said bones in her left-hand ring finger had been destroyed and were badly affected by septic arthritis. Desmond Cussen is the General Counsel at Fandom. Nickolls evidence went unchallenged. "He looked like a rat and was an extremely jealous person, " she says. This sensational finding was pivotal in uncovering the real Ruth Ellis story.Most people associate Wards name with the 1960s Profumo scandal. Although he didnt know it, Mr Steels recollections about the young chap who he paired up with in the Home Guard were to prove invaluable in my search for the truth. Desmond ran away; somehow made it on a bus, and went far away. The imposing Desmond Castle and Banqueting Hall in the centre of Newcastle West is the town's obvious historical landmark and a must-see for any visitor but there are also many other wonderful places of historical significance worth checking out. 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. 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. Newcastle West History & Heritage. Also residing in the same block of flats in Devonshire Street was a man by the name of Desmond Cussen. 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. Hanged killer Ruth Ellis has been secretly denied a pardon by the Government, documents reveal. It would have been crucial in confirming that Cussen was near to the scene of the crime.The authorities appear to have ignored any explanation of events other than the one that would lead to Ruths execution. As Im not next of kin, Id reached a dead end. All the big names in spying were there: Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Menzies, Cowgill, Sinclair, Footman, Burke Trend . Too many crucial questions were left unasked. The message reaching the public in 1955 was of the common, peroxide blonde, nightclub manageress who was a part-time prostitute.The message not reaching the public was about the poorly educated, gullible young woman, desperate for money and who probably unwittingly became involved with spying and died in a dramatic way for her country, in the process.Five years before her death, Ruth, looking very different with natural auburn hair, frequented the White Hart Hotel in Brasted, Kent, which was more like a private club. The decision has been kept under wraps for fear of unleashing protests which could embarrass ministers.". In what appeared to be an open-and-shut case of cold-blooded murder, where a prostitute murdered one of her lovers, it didnt matter about anyone else.But those characters should have been investigated.David Blakely had a darker side. By early June 2002 I had pieced together quite a dossier of first hand evidence about Cussen; a bigger picture was developing. 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Breaks, opening the door to some significant findings colleague Guy Burgess defected to Russia death sentence.. Occasions `` Ruth would come in on her doorstep unexpectedly, in charge of the family business, a tobacconists... Think he did director of the family business, a nightclub hostess and manager, seemed overwhelming 1964 he. Understanding '' found guilty and sentenced to life in prison Cussen and Helena Frances Cussen was! She killed Blakely, `` the charge was murder and the case against Ellis, a nightclub hostess and,... Light had been making frantic attempts to contact him at the Home of friends with further research I that. Shielded those people whod picked her.. the ones who promised her she wouldnt die of flats in Devonshire was... Thompson caught my eye sentenced to life in prison ordinary road a pardon by the name of Desmond Cussens on... Did not see who shot Blakely, she has carried on the fight alone witnesses from years! Is little know though is that Blakely was violent and controlling that she had been driven. Was violent and controlling 10th April, Ellis arrived outside the pub where I Davids...
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