Normal Women, page 60
But the violence Ruth Ellis suffered was not considered a mitigating circumstance, especially as she was seeing and receiving money from another man, and married to neither. Her beauty and her work as a nightclub hostess also probably counted against her. But ten years after she was hanged, the death penalty was abolished in 1965.
Most murdered women are killed by their husbands or partners: 58 per cent in 1967–74, usually in their own homes.3 The reports read like a list of war dead. This slightly edited list – excluding road traffic accidents and terrorist attacks – is drawn from the original, compiled by Karen Ingala Smith on her website Counting Dead Women for the year 2019:
1 January 2019: Charlotte Huggins, 33, was stabbed in the early hours of New Year’s Day in London by her ex-partner.
1 January 2019: Jay Edmunds, 27, was killed in a house fire in Kirton, Lincolnshire, started by her ex-partner who also died.
4 January 2019: Simbiso Aretha Moula, 39, was found dead with her husband in Rainham, Essex. Police believe he strangled her and hanged himself.
5 January 2019: Sarah Ashraf, 35, was found dead at home in London. Her brother was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
11 January 2019: Asma Begum, 31, was stabbed more than 50 times, in her head and neck by her husband in their home in east London.
13 January 2019: Luz Margory Isaza Villegas, 50, was murdered by her husband. He burned and buried her body in a suitcase in a shallow grave in Hertfordshire.
13 January 2019: Christy Walshe, 40, was shot in the face by her partner in Southend, Essex.
14 January 2019: Leanne Unsworth, 40, died of head injuries inflicted by an acquaintance in Lancashire.
16 January 2019: Alison Hunt, 42, was stabbed 18 times on the doorstep of her home in Swinton by her ex-partner.
22 January 2019: Mary Annie Sowerby, 69, known as Annie, was stabbed repeatedly in her chest and neck by her son in her home in Cumbria.
23 January 2019: Julie Webb, 44, was found with serious head injuries in a house in Birmingham and died in hospital the next day. Her partner was found guilty of her murder.
26 January 2019: Margaret Smyth, 29, known as Maggie, was missing for six days before police found parts of her body under rubble at a former pub in Bolton where her ex-partner had been working. He was found guilty of her murder.
29 January 2019: Susan Waring, 45, from Darwen, Lancashire, was last seen alive in January 2019. Two years later, her partner was convicted of her murder and of offences against four other women, including causing grievous bodily harm and making threats to kill.
31 January 2019: Mary Page, 68, was kicked and punched by her son, before he killed her by hitting her over the head with a bedside table at her home in Wolverhampton. He was found guilty of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
1 February 2019: Libby Squire, 21, disappeared after a night out in Hull, her body was found in the Humber estuary 7 weeks later. A man was convicted of her rape and murder in February 2021.
1–2 February 2019: Antoinette Donnegan, 52, was found strangled in a flat in London, strangled by clothing. Her lodger was convicted of manslaughter.
5 February 2019: A 73-year-old woman died 11 days after being mugged in Birmingham. A 15-year-old boy was found guilty of manslaughter.
7 February 2019: Rosie Darbyshire, 27, was found dead in the street in Preston, Lancashire, with serious head injuries. Her boyfriend was convicted of her murder.
8 February 2019: Aliny Mendes, 39, died of multiple stabbings in the street by her ex-husband as she collected her children from school in Surrey.
11 February 2019: Sarah Henshaw, 40, was attacked with a hammer and then strangled with a vacuum cord whilst in bed in her home in Leeds, by her ex-partner.
14 February 2019: Dorothy Bowyer, 77, was stabbed to death by her grandson in Derbyshire. He was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
15 February 2019: Leah Croucher, 19, was killed by a man who killed himself afterwards.
19 February 2019: Susan Howells, 51, was killed by her partner who was found guilty of her murder and of preventing her burial.
25 February 2019: Jodi Miller, 21, was kicked and stabbed by a man who had repeatedly accosted her and tried to pay her for sex which she refused, in Leeds.
1 March 2019: Jodie Chesney, 17, was stabbed in the back whilst walking through a park with friends in east London. Two men, aged 19 and 17, were convicted of her murder.
2 March 2019: Elize Stevens, 50, was stabbed 86 times in London, by her partner, who claimed that he feared she would leave him.
6 March 2019: Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, was found naked, wrapped in bin-bags in a shallow grave in her garden in west London. She had been strangled by her ex-boyfriend.
7 March 2019: Allison Marimon-Herrera, 15, and her 37-year-old mother, Giselle, were found dead. Giselle’s partner was thought to have killed them before hanging himself.
9 March 2019: Lalal Kamara, 26, was found dead in a flat in Denton, Greater Manchester. She was murdered by her boyfriend’s brother.
10 March 2019: Alice Morrow, 53, was found dead following an assault in Belfast. Her partner admitted her murder.
17 March 2019: Rachel Evans, 46, was stabbed or slashed more than 100 times by her ex-partner after ending her relationship with him.
20 March 2019: Alison McKenzie, 55, was stabbed to death by her son in Middlesborough. He was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
22 March 2019: Janette Dunbavand, 81, and her husband were found dead in their home. He shot her before shooting himself.
27 March 2019: Barbara Heywood, 80, was stabbed to death at her home in Manchester. Her 88-year-old husband was arrested and detained under the Mental Health Act.
2 April 2019: Paula Meadows, 83, was found dead at home. Her 84-year-old husband is believed to have killed her before killing himself.
17 April 2019: Sarah Fuller, 35, was strangled to death by her partner in Exeter.
20 April 2019: Megan Newton, 18, was found dead at Stoke-on-Trent. A former schoolfriend, 18, was convicted of her rape and murder.
21 April 2019: Leah Fray, 27, was found dead in a burning flat in Leicester. A man, 18, was convicted of murder, rape and arson.
23 April 2019: Siama Riaz, 33, was found dead after police were called to attend to a stabbing in Rochdale. Her husband was convicted of murder.
23 April 2019: Sammy-Lee Lodwig, 22, was found stabbed with cuts to her throat, forehead and chest in Swansea. Her ‘boyfriend’ had tied her up on the bed before killing her.
26 April 2019: Amy Parsons, 35, was bludgeoned to death with a metal bar whilst in the shower by her partner.
29 April 2019: Emma Faulds, 39, from Kilmarnock, was killed by a friend, 40.
30 April 2019: Lauren Griffiths, 21, was found dead in her flat in Cardiff. Her partner, 22, was jailed for murder.
3 May 2019: Ellie Gould, 17, was stabbed to death by a school friend in Wiltshire, after refusing to be his girlfriend.
6 May 2019: Joanne Hamer, 48, was found dead at home in Lincolnshire after police were called. Her husband was found guilty of murder.
10 May 2019: Mavis Long, 77, died in hospital after her husband, 80, strangled her. He was convicted of manslaughter.
12 May 2019: Julia Rawson, 42, was identified by her dental records in Tipton, Yorkshire. Two men, 28 and 23, were found guilty of her murder.
20 May 2019: Tatiana Koudriavtsev, 68 and 69-year-old husband were stabbed to death by their son in London.
24 May 2019: Jayde Hall, 26, was stabbed to death in Stoke-on-Trent, after ending her relationship with her boyfriend.
27 May 2019: Elizabeth McShane, 39, was found dead with her partner, 33, in a flat in Glasgow. Police were treating their deaths as murder-suicide.
29 May 2019: Linda Treeby, 64, died of serious head injuries after emergency services were called to a caravan site on the coast of Lincolnshire. Her partner, 50, was jailed for murder.
5 June 2019: Regan Tierney, 27, was found stabbed to death in Salford probably by her ex-partner, 31, who died in hospital.
7 June 2019: Paige Gibson, 23, was stabbed to death in Halifax, W. Yorkshire by a 16-year-old male who was jailed for 16 years.
9 June, 2019, Neomi Smith, 23, was stabbed to death in Aberdeen by her boyfriend.
15 June 2019: Valerie Richardson, 49, was killed in her home in Fife by a friend, 39, who killed himself.
17 June 2019: Safie Xheta, 35, was killed by knife wounds to the neck. Her husband was treated for injuries and later jailed for her murder in Oxford.
24 June 2019: Lucy Rushton, 30, died of multiple injuries in Andover. Her estranged husband was convicted of her murder.
29 June 2019: Kelly Fauvrelle, 26, was stabbed at home in an attack that also killed her unborn baby. Her ex-partner, 25, was jailed for their deaths.
29 June 2019: Julia Flynn, 74, died in a fire at her house set by Tyler Flanagan, 17, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
1 July 2019: Joanna Thompson, 50, died from neck injuries at her home. A teenage male was arrested and later detained under the Mental Health Act.
2 July 2019: Ligita Kostiajeviene, 42, died of severe head injuries following an armed siege at a house in Peterborough. Another woman and a child were injured in the attack. Her husband was jailed for murder, attempted murder and assault on an emergency worker.
11 July 2019: Carol Milne, 59, was found dead in her home in Aberdeen. Her son admitted culpable homicide due to diminished responsibility.
12 July 2019: Layla Arezo, 74, and her husband Akbar Arezo, 64, were stabbed to death in their home in south-west London. Their son was sentenced for manslaughter at the Old Bailey.
15 July 2019: Doreen Virgo, 89, was found dead in a care home in Norfolk; she had been strangled. Her husband, 81, was ruled to be responsible for the act but unfit to stand trial.
18 July 2019: Diane Dyer, 61, died of blunt force injury to the neck and face in south-west London. Her boyfriend, 54, was jailed for life.
21 July 2019: Kayleigh Hanks, 29, was strangled to death in her home in East Sussex by her on-off partner, 36.
25 July 2019: Christine Ford, 71, died of multiple injuries after an attack by her landlord Brian Coote, 65, in Flamstead.
28 July 2019: Dr Leela (Premm) Monti, 51, and her partner Robert Tully, 71, were found dead in their home in Lincolnshire. Her son, 22, was found guilty of murder.
30 July 2019: Kelly-Anne Case, 27, was found dead after a fire at her home. A man, 28, was jailed for murder.
30 July 2019: Tracey Walker, 40, died from stab wounds in Lerwick. Two friends, Dawn Smith, 29, and Ross MacDougal, 32, were found guilty of murder.
3 August 2019: Dorothy Woolmer, 89, was raped and murdered in London. She died of multiple blunt force injuries. A man, 22, was jailed for murder and sexual assault.
5 August 2019: Kathleen (Gwen) Gold, 78, was killed by her husband who then killed himself.
12 August 2019: Lindsay Birbeck, 47, was found strangled in a graveyard in Lancashire on 22 August. A 16-year-old male was jailed for murder.
17 August 2019: Belinda Rose, 63, a care worker was stabbed to death in Birmingham in a property she supervised. A businessman, 52, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
17 August 2019: Pamela Mellor, 55, was found dead in a house in Handforth, Cheshire. A man, 43, was found to have unlawfully killed her and was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.
19 August 2019: Linda Vilika, 41, was stabbed to death in Essex by her husband, 42.
25 August 2019: Michelle Pearson, 36, died of injuries in an arson attack at her home in Salford in December 2017 which killed four of her children. Two men were sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2018.
26 August 2019: Rebecca Simpson, 30, died in hospital after being found with serious head injuries in Castleford, Yorkshire. Her boyfriend, 32, pleaded guilty to her manslaughter.
28 August 2019: Jacqueline (Jackie) Kirk, 62, was killed by her ex-partner.
29 August 2019: Alice Farquharson, 56, was found dead at her home in Aberdeen. Her husband, 60, was jailed for murder.
29 August 2019: Laura Rakstelyte, 31, was stabbed to death in Ilford, London, by her ex-boyfriend, 43, who fatally stabbed himself.
31 August 2019: Sandra Samuels, 44, was found dead in Hackney, London. A man, 40, was jailed for her murder.
1 September 2019: Janet Lewis, 77, was stabbed and clubbed as she slept at her home in Essex. Her husband of 60 years was convicted of her murder.
6 September 2019: Marlene McCabe, 71, had suffered serious head and face injuries before dying in her home in Blackpool. Her grandson, 25, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
11 September 2019: Lana Nemceva, 33, was found dead with her husband in the home in Burton, Staffordshire. Police believed her death was murder and his suicide.
12 September 2019: Bethany Fields, 21, was stabbed multiple times in the street in Huddersfield. Her ex-boyfriend was sent to a secure hospital for his role in her death.
18 September 2019: Serafima Mashaka, 58, was killed in Ealing, west London. A man, 41, was jailed for her murder.
19 September 2019: Vera Hudson, 57, was murdered by a neighbour, 25.
19 September 2019: Keely Bunker, 20, was found dead in woodland in Tamworth, Staffordshire. A man, 19, was found guilty of her rape and murder.
21 September 2019: Cristina Ortiz-Lozano, 28, suffered multiple stab wounds and died at her home in Southampton. A man, 29, was jailed for murder.
24 September 2019: Emily Goodman, 42, was found stabbed to death by police investigating the death of a man, 37, who fell from the 14th floor of a block of flats in Oxford.
24 September 2019: Katrina Fletcher, 64, was killed by her partner, 62. He had a history of convictions for violence against her and was convicted of manslaughter.
27 September 2019: Margaret Robertson, 54, also known as Meg, was found dead at home in Aberdeen. A man, 40, was jailed for her murder.
2 October 2019: Arlene Williams, 46, was found stabbed to death at her home in Enfield, London. Her son, 28, admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
6 October 2019: Sarah Hassall, 38, was found dead in her house in Pontypridd, Wales. Brian Manship, who had raped and stabbed her multiple times, was found guilty of murder.
8 October 2019: Suvekshya Burathoki, 32, known as Fatima, was found stabbed to death at her home in Leicester. Her former partner, 29, was jailed for her murder.
9 October 2019: Natalie Harker, 30, was stalked, abducted and murdered by her ex-partner who was found guilty of her murder at Catterick.
10 October 2019: Niyat Berhane Teklemariam, 21, was found dead with a neck wound. Her probable killer, 38, committed suicide in a central London Tube station.
10 October 2019: Lesley Spearing, 55, was stabbed at her home in Rainham, east London. Her son, 27, was held in relation to her death.
21 October 2019: Zoe Orton, 46, was found dead at her home in London. Police believe she was strangled.
22 October 2019: Thi Tra My Pham, 26, Thi Van Nguyen, 35, Thi Nhung (Anna) Bui, 19, Thi Thanh Tran, 41, Thi Tho Tran, 21, Thi Nhgoc Oanh Pham, 28, Thi Mai Nhung Tran, 18, Thi Ngoc Tran, 19, were refugee women of 39 refugees suffocated in a container lorry organised by people smugglers.
25 October 2019: Annie Temple, 97, was found dead in her bed. The son of her late GP was found guilty of defrauding her and of her murder.
26 October 2019: Beatrice Yankson, 59, died of burns and inhalation of smoke in a fire at her home in London. Her son, 35, was detained indefinitely.
28 October 2019: Evie Adams, 23, was poisoned by her ex-partner, who faked her suicide note. He had been earlier suspected of murdering his two children. He was found guilty of all three murders.
3 November 2019: Levi Ogden, 26, was attacked and fatally injured in a street in Halifax, W. Yorkshire. Her boyfriend, 26, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
9 November 2019: Tsegereda Gebremariam, 29, was stabbed to death probably by her former partner, 28, who also killed himself.
13 November 2019: Nicola Stevenson, 39, was found dead in a wheelie bin in Lewes, E. Sussex. She had suffered blunt force injury to her head.
13 November 2019: Mandeep Singh, 39, was found dead in a house in Nottingham alongside her husband, 57.
21 November 2019: Alison McBlaine, was killed by a car deliberately driven into her. Four males were found guilty of her murder and a fifth was convicted of manslaughter.
27 November 2019: Katy Sprague, 51, was found strangled in Cambridgeshire. Her neighbour, 36, was jailed for her murder.
15 December 2019: Marion Price, 63, was found dead in her car, she had been shot. Her estranged husband, 69, and his accomplice, 60, were found guilty of murder.
16 December 2019: Jolanta Jacubowska, 50, was stabbed to death in Watford. A 17-year-old male was charged in relation to her death.
17 December 2019: Kayleigh Dunning, 32, was found dead in Portsmouth. Her partner, 48, was convicted of her murder.
18 December 2019: Nelly Myers, 58, was found dead in Sussex. Her lover, 35, was jailed for her murder.
19 December 2019: Angela Tarver, 86, died after being almost decapitated. Her son was jailed for her murder.
22 December 2019: Amy Appleton, 32, was beaten to death in the street in Sussex by her husband, who also killed a passer-by, Sandra Seagrove, 76, when she tried to intervene.
23 December 2019: Frances Murray, 37, was found dead in Belfast with her partner Joseph Dutton, 47. A man admitted unlawfully killing them.
25 December 2019: Vivienne Bryan, 74, was found dead in a house in Fairbourne, N. Wales. Her 75-year-old husband was convicted of her manslaughter.
31 December 2019, Stacey Cooper, 34, was found dead in her home in Redcar. A man, 27, was charged with her murder.
In addition
March 2019: A woman whose body was found in a stream in the Yorkshire Dales in 2004 was identified as Lamduan Seekanya/Armitage. She lived in the UK between 1991 and 2004.
