WARNING 18+ MENTIONS OF DEATH, SUICIDE AND DRUGS. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. I AM NOT PROMOTING OR MEANING ANY HARM.
Harold Shipman - known by other names as Dr Death, The angel of death, and the good doctor. Known as Fred Shipman to acquittances, was an English general practitioner who was found guilty of killing his patients between 1975 - 1998, his total number of victims is not fully known, however, it is approximately 250, and he was apprehended on the 7th September 1998.
His method of killings was injecting his victims with a lethal injection of diamorphine, which acts as a painkiller. He injected 6 times the limit.
Harold was sentenced to life imprisonment and never to be released. He died on the 13th January a day before his 58th birthday by hanging himself in his cell.
Harold Fredrick Shipman was born on the 14th January 1946 in Bestwood, Nottingham, to a working-class family. His parents had 3 children and Shipman was the middle child. His father Harold Fredrick Shipman (12 May 1914–5 January 1985) was a lorry driver and his mother Vera Brittan (23 December 1919–21 June 1963) was a home-maker. When growing up he was a rugby player, Harold was his mother's favourite, and when she succumbed to her disease (terminal lung cancer) on 21st June 1963, it took a huge effect on Harold's spirit. In his last years of school, he outshined others and became vice-captain of the athletic team.
In September 1965, Harold was determined to go to medical school, he enrolled into Leeds university medical school and graduated in 1970. He met his wife Primrose Oxtoby on his way to medical school at 19 and married in 1966, and five months later Primrose was pregnant with their first child, Valentine's day the following year, Sarah was born. They had four children altogether, their second child was Christopher, born on April 21st, 1970. Had their third child David, born March 20th, 1979, and the fourth child and final child, Sam, three years later on April 4th, 1982.
In 1974, Shipman attended a medical practice in Todmorden, Yorkshire, while working there he allegedly became addicted to the painkiller pethidine, he forged prescriptions for large quantities of the drug and then was forced to leave the practice, after he was caught by colleagues in 1975. He entered a drug rehabilitation program and received a fine of £600 and a conviction for forgery. A few years later, in 1977, he was accepted at Donnybrook Medical Center in Hyde. He made himself a very hard-working doctor and gained the trust of his patients and colleagues. He eventually established his own surgery, while still working at Donnybrook in 1993.
March 1998, Dr Linda Reynolds who worked at Donnybrook expressed concerns to the coroner of south Manchester district, John Pollard, about the alarming amounts of patient deaths under Shipman's care, mostly the number of cremation forms for the elderly women, these forms needed to be countersigned. However, police were unable to find sufficient evidence and closed the investigation on April 13th, even after the case was closed, shipman carried on with three more murders. More suspicions arrived when a taxi driver of the name John Shaw notified the police that many of his elderly customers that seemed to be in good health, died in Shipman's care.
His last victim Kathleen Grundy an 81-year-old widow - was found dead in her home on the 24th June 1998 and Shipman was the last person to of saw her alive, he later signed her death certificate and recorded her death as 'old age'. Kathleen's daughter, lawyer Angela Woodruff, became worried when the solicitor Brian Burgess informed her that a will had been made by Kathleen herself, however, there were doubts about its legitimacy. In the will, it said £386,000 would be left to Shipman and excluded Angela and her children after she found this out. Fingerprint analysis shows Grundy never handled the will, and a handwriting expert dismissed the signature. She went straight to the police, who eventually started an investigation. Kathleen's body was exhumed and examined and her body was found to have traces of diamorphine, which is often used to help pain for terminal cancer patients. It was administered 2 hours before her death.
Harold Shipman was questioned, and he claimed she was addicted, and he had shown the comments that he had made of his medical journal on the computer, though this had been written after her death. They arrested him on the 7th September 1998, after his arrest police investigated other deaths that had happened around Shipman's care. They had found lethal doses of diamorphine in his victim's bodies and found he has been signing death certificates indicating that they had been in poor health.
His trial began at Preston Crown Court on October 5th, 1999. A police computer analyst testified Shipman had altered his computer records to create symptoms that his patients never had, he would do this within hours of their deaths. Shipman showed he had no compassion to revive his patients that he had just killed. He had pretended to phone emergency services and then cancel when the patients were dead. There is no proof that he had phoned emergency services.
At court, they charged him with the murders of 15 women by lethal injecting of diamorphine all between 1995-1998 and found him guilty on January 31, 2000.
VICTIMS
Marie West - 81, murdered on March 6, 1995
Irene Turner - 67, murdered on July 11, 1996
Lizzie Adams - 77, murdered on Feb 28, 1997
Jean Lilley - 58, murdered April 25, 1997
Ivy Lomas - 63, murdered May 29, 1997
Muriel Grimshaw - 76, murdered July 14, 1997
Marie Quinn - 67, murdered November 11, 1997
Kathleen Wagstaff - 81, murdered December 9, 1997
Bianka Pomfret - 49, murdered December 10, 1997
Norah Nuttall - 65, murdered January 26, 1998
Pamela Hillier - 68, murdered Feb 9, 1998
Maureen Ward - 57, murdered February 18, 1998
Winifred Mellor - 73, murdered May 11, 1998
Joan Melia - 73, murdered June 12, 1998
Kathleen Grundy - 81, murdered on June 24, 1998
His legal representatives tried, but unsuccessfully, to have Grundy's case tried separately due to there being a motive as he had forged the will. After 6 days deliberation, the jury eventually found Shipman guilty of 15 counts of murder and one forgery. They sentenced him to life imprisonment and for him to never be released. Even with all the evidence against him, Shipman constantly denied his quilt and his wife maintained his innocence even after the conviction.
On the day before his 58th birthday, Shipman was found in his cell dead. He had hung himself from window bars with his bedsheets at around 6:20 am on 13th January 2004 and pronounced dead at 8:10 am. His victim's families will never get the gratification of a confession or answers as to why he did what he did.
The sun celebrated his death with 'ship ship hooray'
It is estimated that he could be responsible for at least 236 patient deaths over 24 years. High court judge, Dame Janet Smith, examined over 500 patients and it was concluded it was likely to of been at least 236 patients, deaths before 1975 were never officially proven.
Shipman's horrendous crimes led to 'the shipman inquiry' Read about it here
REFERENCES
Published 30th January 2021
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