Ronald True

Ronald True (17 June 1891 – 8 January 1951) was an English murderer who was convicted of the 1922 bludgeoning and murder by asphyxiation of a 25-year-old prostitute and call girl named Gertrude Yates. He was initially sentenced to death for Yates's murder, and an initial appeal was dismissed by the Lord Chief Justice. True's conviction was later reprieved following a psychiatric examination ordered by the Home Secretary which determined that True was legally insane. True was then confined for life in Broadmoor Hospital in lieu of his death sentence. He died of a heart attack while still confined at Broadmoor in January 1951, aged 59. Early life True was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England on 17 June 1891, the son of an unmarried 16-year-old girl named Annabelle Angus, who doted on her son. As a child, True was markedly disobedient and selfish to his family and peers, and his public school attendance record poor. He was regularly disciplined for acts of truancy and disobedience, and is known to have regularly committed acts of petty theft. He is also known to have frequently exhibited cruelty to animals.