Harold Shipman - Britain's most cruel killer

Harold Shipman (UK) is accused of "murder addiction", killing more than 200 patients by injecting overdose which makes them painful to death.

Harold Shipman was born into a family of workers with mothers who were domineering and bossy. She ruined all of Shipman's relationships, causing him to be isolated from his friends during his childhood.

Two years after her mother died of lung cancer, Shipman was determined and passed the Leeds Medical University exam. In 1974, he participated in a medical seminar in Todmorden, Yorkshire, and began to practice as a family doctor. Shipman is addicted to Pethidine painkillers , writing fake prescriptions to buy large amounts of this medicine. In 1975, he was discovered by his colleagues and suspended from practice by the authorities, forced to join the drug detox program.

A few years later, Shipman was admitted as a doctor at Donneybrook Medical Center in Hyde. He worked hard, gaining the trust of patients and colleagues. A bit famous, Shipman was arrogant, working at Donneybrook for 20 years.

According to Biography, Shipman's criminal behavior was discovered when a local dead baker realized the strangeness came from Shipman's patients. They seem to "go" to death at a very fast speed and when they die are carefully prepared: decent clothes, body sitting or lying neatly in a chair. This person questioned Shipman and was reassured that nothing was important.

Some time later, Dr. Susan Booth, colleague of Shipman, also realized the same strange and reported police.

Shipman is addicted to Pethidine painkillers, writing fake prescriptions to buy large amounts of this medicine.

A secret investigation was conducted but Shipman proved to be clean. All records saved are not unusual. Given that there was no satisfactory solution, the police investigated more thoroughly and they found that the Shipman file provided was fake. He changed the patient's medical record, documenting the cause of death.

Because Shipman hid behavior under the name of a family doctor, investigators could not determine exactly when he started killing the patients, or exactly the number of victims. Besides, all charges were rejected by Shipman.

Shipman's crimes only ended when Angela Woodruff, the daughter of a patient, was determined to refuse any explanation from this family doctor about her mother's death. Kathleen Grundy, a rich widow, 81, was found dead at her home on June 24, 1998, after Dr. Shipman's first visit.

Shipman advised Woodruff not to do autopsies and that Mrs. Grundy was buried as her daughter wanted. However, Woodruff is a lawyer, knows his mother better than anyone else, so he refuses to accept most of the property left to Shipman. The strange thing is that in the will suddenly there is her 'signature' consensus.

Woodruff sought to prove his mother's medical record and the will was falsified and Shipman purposely killed the widow to usurp the property. The body of Mrs. Grundy was excavated to serve the investigation.

The medical doctors concluded that she died of overdose of Morphine within three hours before her death, which was the time Shipman visited. Shipman's home was ransacked, police found records of medical records, several sets of jewelry and some self-made medical equipment. All the victims who died after the " death visit" of this death doctor were not cremated by the police.

Authorities discovered that Shipman always proactively recommended families to cremate their loved ones and stressed that the death of the patient was very normal. He also prepared very carefully papers, medical records are archived 'decent' to persuade families in case they suspect and question. However, Shipman was unaware that every time he changed the profile on the computer, the editing history was saved. From this clue, the police have committed crimes.

After extending the case, excavating and examining a series of corpses, police concluded Shipman was involved in 15 murders and a number of fraudulent records.

The first trial of Shipman trial was opened on October 5, 1999. Angela Woodruff, daughter of the victim Kathleen Grundy appears as a witness. Woodruff impressed the jury with the straightforward and harsh accusations of a lawyer. All of Shipman's critique attempts failed.

Shipman was sentenced to death with charges of killing 15 people, 4 years of fraud.

The fingerprint analysis results in the will also prove Woodruff never touched the will, the signature is fake. In addition, the medical history on the computer also shows the "hands-on" of the doctor. The symptoms of the patients were corrected to match their cause of death.

With evidence of illegal drug possession, deliberately misrepresenting prescriptions, especially the greater presence of victims' families, Shipman's crimes are further delineated in later trials.

He was accused of lack of professional ethics, deliberately killed 15 patients in order to deceive the property at trial on January 31, 2000. Shipman was sentenced to death with charges of killing 15 people, 4 years of fraud. According to the ruling, Shipman is not allowed to pardon in any case.

The health sector of England was shaken by the Shipman case. Going deeper into his 24-year history of practice, University of Leicester professor Richard Baker examined the number and causes of death of patients who had been treated by Shipman. He concluded that the mortality rate of elderly patients was unusually higher and suggested that Shipman had deliberately caused these deaths.

The police continued to investigate and said that Shipman was actually responsible for at least 236 patients. Particularly, the investigation committee headed by Supreme Court judge Dame Janet Smith checked 500 patients who died during Dr. Shipman's 'care' process, from which he concluded he caused at least 218 deaths. patient.

The investigating committee also said that Shipman became a murderer addict. Regardless of the actual number of victims, Shipman also became one of the most dangerous professional killers in the world.

In June 2003, Shipman was transferred to Wakefield prison. On January 13, 2004, Shipman was found to have hung himself, one day before his 58th birthday.