The Crime Book

290

M

arried since the age of

20, and a father of four,

Dr Harold Shipman was

seen as a kindly doctor. There had

been a blip in 1975 when he was

caught forging prescriptions to sate

his pethidine addiction, but after

he paid the £600 fine and went to

rehab, his indiscretion soon passed

out of memory.

Nevertheless, the frequency with

which his patients died suddenly and

unexpectedly did not entirely escape

notice. Observing that an unusually

high number of female senior citizens

The harmless looks of Dr Harold

Shipman in this police mugshot taken

at the time of his arrest belie the reality

of his terrible crimes. The doctor’s

activities went unnoticed for years.

in Shipman’s care chose cremation

for their end, a funeral parlour

employee voiced her suspicions to

Dr Linda Reynolds of Brooke Surgery

in Hyde, who in turn passed them

on to the South Manchester District

coroner. However, after a cursory

check, the police found no evidence

of any wrongdoing.

Flawed reputation

John Shaw was a cabbie who

regularly drove Shipman’s patients

to his surgery in Hyde, and became

friends with many of them. In March

1995, the sudden death of Netta

Ashcroft left Shaw feeling that

something was amiss. Well aware of

the doctor’s good reputation in the

community and convinced that the

police would not believe him, Shaw

maintained a tortured silence as

more and more of Shipman’s patients

died. It was not until August 1998

that Shaw was convinced that

Shipman had murdered 21 of his

patients – and finally voiced his

concerns to the police.

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Hyde, near Manchester, UK

THEME

Medical homicides

BEFORE

1881–92 Dr Thomas Neill

Cream, a Scottish-Canadian

medical practitioner, poisons

multiple US and British women

with chloroform.

1895 –1901 Jane Toppan,

a Massachusetts nurse, poisons

at least 30 victims, including

her patients and family.

1970–82 “Angel of Death”

Donald Harvey murders

between 37 and 57 patients

in various hospitals, using an

extensive range of methods.

AFTER

1988–2003 Charles Cullen

kills 40 patients during his

time as a nurse in New Jersey.

2001–02 Colin Norris, a male

nurse, kills many of his elderly

patients in Glasgow, Scotland.

IN HIS OWN EYES, HE

WAS SOME SORT OF

MEDICAL GOD

HAROLD SHIPMAN, 1975–98

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291

See also: Burke and Hare 22–23 ■ John Edward Robinson 298–99 ■ The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko 326–31

SERIAL KILLERS

By that time, Shipman had already

slipped up. On 24 June 1998,

81-year-old Kathleen Grundy, the

wealthy former mayor of Hyde, was

discovered dead in her home. When

Grundy’s daughter, solicitor Angela

Woodruff, read the will – which

declared that all Grundy’s wealth

was to be given to her doctor, Harold

Shipman, instead of to her family –

she alerted the authorities to the

forgery. Grundy’s body was

exhumed and traces of diamorphine,

an opioid used for pain relief, were

found in her system. Shipman,

who had listed her cause of death

as “old age”, was arrested on

7 September. A typewriter of the

same make used to forge Grundy’s

will was recovered from Shipman’s

surgery, and his fingerprints were

found all over the document.

Arrogance and denial

Following these revelations, police

brought charges against Shipman

for the murder of 15 other female

patients. On 31 January 2000, he

was convicted on all counts. Rather

than obtaining £386,000 from

Kathleen Grundy’s will, Shipman

received 15 concurrent life

sentences. In a subsequent

enquiry, he was found responsible

for a minimum of 218 deaths. The

real number may exceed 250.

Despite overwhelming evidence

of his guilt, Shipman refused to

confess. He turned his back on

police interviewers throughout

hours of extensive interrogation.

However, one day before his

58th birthday, Shipman hanged

himself from his cell window.

Provides fake causes of

death and advocates

cremations

Murders at least

218 patients before

he is caught by

the authorities

Injects patients with a

lethal dose of heroin

Shipman visits his

patients at their home

A fellow prisoner explained that

Shipman had recently received a

letter from his entirely supportive

wife Primrose, asking him to tell

her “everything, no matter what.”

The notion that Shipman was

addicted to holding power over life

and death has largely been

accepted as his motive, because

his clumsy attempt at financial

benefit actually precipitated his

downfall. However, of the 100 items

of her jewellery seized by police,

Primrose could only prove that 66

items belonged to her. ■

Victimization of the elderly

In 2006, British criminologist

David Wilson pointed out that

the elderly represent a large

part of the victim demographic

in the UK. The figure, however,

was vastly inflated by Harold

Shipman’s many killings.

Wilson noted that the old –

particularly those estranged

from their family or without one

• often endure invisible lives in
  which weeks or months might
  pass without anybody checking
  on them. Due to inadequate
  social services, impoverished

pensioners often occupy

dwellings that are easy to break

into in places where there is

often little sense of community.

Deaths of the aged are also more

likely to be attributed to natural

causes than those of other

citizens and they are therefore

less likely to be investigated.

It is notable that the vast

majority of Shipman’s victims

were working or lower-middle

class men and women. Only the

death of a wealthy, high-profile

citizen finally aroused suspicion.

He simply... enjoyed

the feeling of control over

life and death.

Coroner John Pollard

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