Harold Shipman – Serial Murderer from UK

Who was Harold Shipman?

Harold Shipman (full name Harold Fredrick Shipman) was born on 14 January 1946 in Nottingham, England. Raised in a working class family, he grew up being strongly attached to his mother; which seems to have been a domineering woman influencing his early years as a developing teenage. His mother controlled who he can talk to or interact with, became an isolated teenager with very few friends.

He witnessed his mother’s illness, who was suffering of lung cancer. He became so interested in the effect that the administration of morphine had on his mother’s pain, that he oversaw her care until she passed away on June 21,1963. It was a crucial moment in his life, later being discovered that the way his mother died became his modus operandi.

Some years later, in 1966, Shipman he met his future wife Primrose. He was 19 years old; they got married when she was 17 years old and five months pregnant with their first child.

His medical career

Receiving a scholarship, he followed medical training and in 1970 he received a medical degree from Leeds University; a few years later, in 1974, he became a general practitioner in Todmorden in Lancashire. Shipman was forced out from his practice in 1975 after it was discovered that he was writing fraudulent prescriptions for opiate pethedine. He also followed drug rehabilitation program and received a conviction for forgery, paying a small fine.

 

A few years later, in 1977 Shipman was accepted onto the staff at Donneybrook Medical Centre in Hyde. There he ingratiated himself as a hardworking doctor, who enjoyed the trust of patients and colleagues alike; He remained on staff there for almost two decades, throughout the 1980s and began his own surgery practice at 21 Market Street in 1993, becoming a productive and respected member of the community.. In 1983, he was interviewed on the Granada Television documentary World in Action on how the mentally ill should be treated in the community.

How his murders started

There is no clear information about how his murders started, Shipman denying them until the end. At one point in time, a local undertaker noticed that Shipman’s patients are dying at a high rate so naturally he contacted him. But Shipman reassured him that everything is fine and there is nothing to be concerned about. Right after, a colleague of Shipman’s, Dr Susan Booth, noticed as well the high rate of deaths in Shipman’s patients; so the coroner;s office was alerted which contacted the police.

An investigation followed, but it appeared that Shipman’s records are in order so his name was cleared. If only the General Medical Council would have been contacted, they would have discovered Shipman’s previous charges for prescription forgery. He continued his practice unhinged.

 

His Killing Spree

Cleared from the investigation, Shipman continued his murder spree, killing over 200 patients following the same pattern. All his records were clean, his patients were elderly so there was no reason to doubt this high standing community member. His murder spree was put an end by one woman by the name Angela Woodruff.

She was the daughter of one of his victims: Kathleen Grundy. Kathleen was an 81 year old, active and in good health conditions widow. She was also wealthy. Kathleen was discovered dead on June 24, 1998, following an earlier visit by Shipman. While talking to the deceased’s daughter, Shipman advised that no autopsy is required so she got buried according to Angela’s wishes.

But Angela Woodruff got suspicious when solicitor Brian Burgess, notified her of the existence of another will, which surprisingly excluded her family from inheritance and left everything to, you guessed it, Harold Shipman. At that moment she had no doubts that the will is a forgery so she contacted the police which came to the same conclusion. Kathleen’s body was exhumed and evidence of morphine overdose was discovered. The post mortem showed that the morphine was administrated somewhere around three hours before her death. This time frame coincided with the victim’s visit at her doctor Harold Shipman.

The end of his killings

After the autopsy results, police raided Shipman’s house and seized a type writer which was proved to be used in the will’s forgery. He denied the accusations implying that Kathleen Grundy was addicted and she took the morphine as a result of her addiction. He even showed records on his computer trying to prove his statement; but a software showed that those comments and records were added after her death. Police arrested him on 7 September 1998.

Victim List:

Date of death	Year of death	Victim name	Victim Age
March 17	1975	Eva Lyons	70
August 7	1978	Sarah Hannah Marsland	86
August 30	1978	Mary Ellen Jordan	73
December 7	1978	Harold Bramwell	73
December 20	1978	Annie Campbell	88
August 10	1979	Alice Maude Gorton	76
November 28	1979	Jack Leslie Shelmerdine	77
April 18	1981	May Slater	84
August 26	1981	Elizabeth Ashworth	81
January 4	1983	Percy Ward	90
June 28	1983	Moira Ashton Fox	77
January 7	1984	Dorothy Tucker	51
February 8	1984	Gladys Roberts	78
April 15	1984	Joseph Bardsley	83
April 24	1984	Winifred Arrowsmith	70
September 21	1984	Mary Winterbottom	76
November 27	1984	Ada Ashworth	87
December 17	1984	Joseph Vincent Everall	80
December 18	1984	Edith Wibberley	76
December 24	1984	Eileen Theresa Cox	72
January 2	1985	Peter Lewis	41
February 1	1985	May Brookes	74
February 4	1985	Ellen Higson	84
February 15	1985	Margaret Ann Conway	69
February 22	1985	Kathleen McDonald	73
June 26	1985	Thomas Moult	70
June 26	1985	Mildred Robinson	84
August 23	1985	Frances Elizabeth Turner	85
December 17	1985	Selina Mackenzie	77
December 20	1985	Vera Bramwell	79
December 31, 2018	1985	Fred Kellett	79
January 7, 2018	1986	Deborah Middleton	81
April 23, 2018	1986	Dorothy Fletcher	74
June 6, 2018	1986	Thomas Fowden	81
September 15, 2018	1986	Mona Ashton White	63
October 7, 2018	1986	Mary Tomlin	73
November 17, 2018	1986	Beatrice Toft	59
December 16, 2018	1986	Lily Broadbent	75
December 23, 2018	1986	James Wood	82
March 30, 2018	1987	Frank Halliday	76
April 1, 2018	1987	Albert Cheetham	85
April 16, 2018	1987	Alice Thomas	83
May 8, 2018	1987	Jane Frances Rostron	78
September 14	1987	Nancy Anne Brassington	71
December 11	1987	Margaret Townsend	80
December 29	1987	Nellie Bardsley	69
December 30	1987	Elizabeth Ann Rogers	74
January 5	1988	Elizabeth Fletcher	90
January 15	1988	Alice Mary Jones	83
February 9	1988	Dorothea Hill Renwick	90
February 15	1988	Ann Cooper	93
February 15	1988	Jane Jones	83
February 16	1988	Lavinia Robinson	84
September 18	1988	Rose Ann Adshead	80
October 20	1988	Alice Prestwich	69
November 6	1988	Walter Tingle	85
December 17	1988	Harry Stafford	87
December 19	1988	Ethel Bennett	80
January 31	1989	Wilfred Chappell	80
March 8	1989	Mary Emma Hamer	81
May 12	1989	Beatrice Helen Clee	78
June 5	1989	Josephine Hall	69
July 6	1989	Hilda Fitton	75
August 14	1989	Marion Carradice	80
September 22	1989	Elsie Harrop	82
September 26	1989	Elizabeth Mary Burke	82
October 15	1989	Sarah Jane Williamson	82
October 16	1989	John Charlton	81
October 18	1989	George Edgar Vizor	67
November 6	1989	Joseph Frank Wilcockson	85
September 18	1990	Dorothy Rowarth	56
December 30	1990	Mary Rose Dudley	69
October 7	1992	Monica Rene Sparkes	72
February 24	1993	Hilda Mary Couzens	92
February 24	1993	Olive Heginbotham	86
March 22	1993	Amy Whitehead	82
April 8	1993	Mary Emma Andrew	86
April 17	1993	Sarah Ashworth	74
April 27	1993	Marjorie Parker	74
May 2	1993	Nellie Mullen	77
May 4	1993	Edna May Llewellyn	68
May 12,	1993	Emily Morgan	84
May 13	1993	Violet May Bird	60
July 22,	1993	Jose Kathleen Diana Richards	74
August 16	1993	Edith Calverley	77
December 16	1993	Joseph Leigh	78
December 22	1993	Eileen Robinson	54
December 31	1993	Charles Edward Brocklehurst	90
January 4	1994	Joan Milray Harding	82
January 13	1994	Christine Hancock	53
February 9	1994	Elsie Platt	73
May 17	1994	Mary Alice Smith	84
May 25	1994	Ronnie Devenport	57
June 15	1994	Cicely Sharples	87
June 17	1994	Alice Christine Kitchen	70
July 27	1994	Maria Thornton	78
November 25	1994	Henrietta Walker	87
November 30	1994	Elizabeth Ellen Mellor	75
December 29	1994	John Bennett Molesdale	81
January 9	1995	Alice Kennedy	88
March 1	1995	Lucy Virgin	70
March 7	1995	Netta Ashcroft	71
March 7	1995	Lily Bardsley	88
March 13	1995	Marie Antoinette Fernley	53
March 21	1995	John Crompton	82
March 26	1995	Frank Crompton	86
March 31	1995	Vera Brocklehurst	70
April 10	1995	Angela Philomena Tierney	71
April 13	1995	Edith Scott	85
April 14	1995	Clara Hackney	84
April 21	1995	Renate Eldtraude Overton	47
May 4	1995	Kate Maud Sellors	75
June 2	1995	Clifford Barnes Heapey	85
June 13	1995	Bertha Moss	68
June 17	1995	Brenda Ashworth	63
June 29	1995	Ernest Rudol	82
July 12	1995	Ada Matley Hilton	88
July 31	1995	Irene Aitken	65
August 29	1995	Arthur Henderson Stopford	82
September 14	1995	Geoffrey Bogle	72
September 26	1995	Dora Elizabeth Ashton	87
October 24	1995	Muriel Margaret Ward	87
November 8	1995	Edith Brock	74
November 22	1995	Charles Henry Barlow	88
November 25	1995	Konrad Peter Ovcar-Robinson	43
December 14	1995	Elizabeth Teresa Sigley	67
December 14	1995	Kenneth Wharmby Woodhead	75
January 2	1996	Hilda Mary Hibbert	81
January 11	1996	Erla Copeland	79
February 21	1996	Jane Elizabeth Shelmerdine	80
February 27	1996	John Sheard Greenhalgh	88
March 12	1996	Minnie Doris Irene Galpin	71
April 18	1996	Marjorie Hope Waller	79
April 24	1996	John Stone	77
May 7	1996	Elsie Godfrey	85
May 13	1996	Edith Brady	72. Ruled unlawful killing at inquiry.
May 29	1996	Valerie Cuthbert	54
May 30	1996	Lilian Cullen	77
June 6	1996	Renee Lacey	63
June 10	1996	Leah Fogg	82
June 17	1996	Gladys Saunders	82
June 25	1996	Nellie Bennett	86
June 25	1996	Margaret Mary Vickers	81
July 2	1996	Tom Balfour Russell	77
July 11	1996	Irene Turner	67
July 16	1996	Carrie Leigh	81
July 19	1996	Marion Elizabeth Higham	84
July 24	1996	Elsie Hannible	85
July 29	1996	Elsie Barker	84
August 30	1996	Sidney Arthur Smith	76
September 12	1996	Dorothy Mary Andrew	85
September 20	1996	Anne Lilian Ralphs	75
October 23	1996	Millicent Garside	76
November 20	1996	Irene Heathcote	76
November 23	1996	Samuel Mills	89
December 4	1996	Thomas Cheetham	78
December 17	1996	Kenneth Ernest Smith	73
January 2	1997	Eileen Daphne Crompton	75
January 3	1997	David Alan Harrison	47
January 8	1997	Elsie Lorna Dean	69
January 20,	1997	Irene Brooder	76
January 27	1997	Charlotte Bennison	89
February 3	1997	Charles Henry Killan	90
February 4	1997	Betty Royston	70
February 23	1997	Joyce Woodhead	74
February 28	1997	Lizzie Adams	77
March 22	1997	Rose Garlick	76
March 27	1997	May Lowe	84
April 21	1997	Mary Coutts	80
April 25	1997	Elsie Cheetham	76
April 25	1997	Jean Lilley	58
May 2	1997	Lena Norah Slater	68
May 12	1997	Ethel May Kellet	74
May 21	1997	Doris Earls	79
May 29	1997	Ivy Lomas	63
June 24	1997	Vera Whittingslow	69
July 7	1997	Maureen Lamonnier Jackson	51
July 14	1997	Muriel Grimshaw	76
July 25	1997	John Louden Livesey	69
July 28	1997	Lily Newby Taylor	86
August 10,	1997	Dorothy Doretta Hopkins	72
September 1	1997	Nancy Jackson	81
September 22	1997	Mavis Mary Pickup	79
September 26	1997	Bessie Swann	79
September 29	1997	Enid Otter	77
November 10	1997	Florence Lewis	79
November 14	1997	Mary Walls	78
November 21	1997	Elizabeth Mary Baddeley	83
November 24	1997	Marie Quinn	67
December 8	1997	Elizabeth Battersby	70
December 9	1997	Laura Kathleen Wagstaff	81
December 10	1997	Bianka Pomfret	49
December 18	1997	Alice Black	73
December 24	1997	James Joseph King	83
January 22	1998	Mabel Shawcross	79
January 26	1998	Norah Nuttall	64
February 2	1998	Cissie Davies	73
February 9	1998	Pamela Marguerite Hillier	68
February 13	1998	Laura Frances Linn	83
February 15	1998	Irene Berry	74
February 18	1998	Maureen Alice Ward	57
February 27	1998	Joan Edwina Dean	75
March 4	1998	Harold Eddleston	77
March 6	1998	Margaret Anne Waldron	65
March 7	1998	Irene Chapman	74
March 13	1998	Dorothy Long	84
March 17	1998	Lily Higgins	83
March 20	1998	Ada Warburton	77
March 24	1998	Martha Marley	88
May 11	1998	Winifred Mellor	73
June 12	1998	Joan May Melia	73
June 24	1998	Kathleen Grundy	81

 

Further Investigations

Law enforcement investigated further and it was soon realized that this murder might not be the only one. A pattern emerged regarding Shipman’s murders. He overdosed victims with morphine, signed their death certificates then he falsified records to show that those patients were in poor health. In many cases he even urged relatives to incinerate the remains highlighting that no further investigation is needed to determine the death cause, providing medical records that corroborated his cause of death pronouncements..  A list of 15 victims was drafted and the police charged Shipman with 15 individual counts of murder on September 7, 1998, as well as one count of forgery.

 

The Trial

Shipman’s trial began at Preston Crown Court on 5 October 1999. It was presided over by Mr Justice Forbes.

Shipman was charged with the murders of Marie West, Irene Turner, Lizzie Adams, Jean Lilley, Ivy Lomas, Muriel Grimshaw, Marie Quinn, Kathleen Wagstaff, Bianka Pomfret, Norah Nuttall, Pamela Hillier, Maureen Ward, Winifred Mellor, Joan Melia and Kathleen Grundy by lethal injections of diamorphine, all between 1995 and 1998.

His legal defense representatives tried to have Shipman trialed on three different trials. One with clear evidence, one with no aparent reason and the Grundy trial where the forgery set this case apart from the rest. But the request was denied so the trial continued.

The prosecution asserted that Shipman intentionally overdosed his victims, eliminating the claims that he had been acting compassionately, as none of his victims were suffering a terminal illness. Angela Woodruff took the stand as a first witness and impressed the jury with her testimony on pursuing to discover the real cause of her mother’s death. The government pathologist, exposed the gruesome details in the post mortem findings about the high level of morphine injected in patients.

Evidence against Shipman

Fingerprint evidence was introduced showing that there was no way that Kathleen Grundy handled the forged will; computer analysis proved that Shipman altered the medical records of the patients after their death. Apparently Shipman was not aware that every change in his database holds a time stamp. Evidence was also introduced proving that Shipman was pretending to call emergencies in the presence of relatives. But cut off the call when the patients were declared death. Other evidence introduced by prosecution showed a clear pattern of how Shipman was over prescribing morphine to patients; and prescribing morphine to patients that didn’t actually needed it.

His Conviction and Sentence

On 31 January 2000, after six days of deliberation, the jury found Harold Shipman guilty of 15 counts of murder and one count of forgery. The judge sentenced Shipman to life imprisonment on all 15 counts of murder; with a recommendation that he never be released, to be served concurrently with a sentence of four years for forging Grundy’s will.

The Aftermath

Following the trial, an investigation was ordered by High Court Judge, Dame Janet Smith, into his patient list. More than 500 patient files were investigated and it was found that Harold Shipman killed at least 215 victims between the age of 45 and 93, starting with 1975 until 1998. Deaths before 1975 were impossible to prove and no records were kept. Shipman never admitted to any of the murders and a retrial was excluded from the start. Many victim relatives pleaded to him for help, to find out how their loved ones died. But he never said anything. For those people, his gruesome murders and his trial never ended.

His motives

There were many speculations as to why Shipman comitted his crimes. Some said that he had a God complex, enjoying the decision power he had over the life or death of his victims. Others implied that he was trying to avenge his mother’s dead. But the truth is that his motives were never discovered.

His Death

Harold Shipman died by hanging in his prison cell at Wakefield, on January 13, 2004, having used bed sheets tied to the window bars of his cell.

He died becoming one of the most prolific serial killers in UK, with a victim count of over 215.

Documents:

Shipman’s Clinical Practice