Harold Shipman

Dr Harold Frederick Shipman, known as Fred Shipman to his family (January 14, 1946 – January 13, 2004) was a British general practitioner who was the most prolific known serial killer in British history (and possibly the world).

Trial and imprisonment

His trial, presided over by Justice Thayne John Forbes, began on October 5, 1999, and saw him prosecuted for the murders of Marie West, Irene Turner, Lizzie Adams, Jean Lilley, Ivy Lomas, Muriel Grimshaw, Marie Quinn, Kathleen Wagstaff, Bianka Pomfret, Naomi Nuttall, Pamela Hillier, Maureen Ward, Winifred Mellor, Joan Melia and Kathleen Grundy, covering a period from 1995 to 1998.

Related Topics:
Thayne John Forbes - October 5 - 1999 - 1995

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After jury deliberations of six days, Shipman was convicted on January 31 2000 of killing 15 patients with lethal injections of diamorphine. The trial judge sentenced him to life imprisonment and recommended that he should never be released. In February 2002 he was formally struck off the GMC register.

Related Topics:
Jury - January 31 - 2000 - Injection

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Shipman was one of the last prisoners to receive a government-imposed tariff when in June 2002 the Home Secretary agreed with the trial judge's guidance and informed Shipman that he would never leave prison. He was also convicted for forging Grundy's will, and received a four year sentence for this.

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Shipman consistently denied his guilt, his defence relying on disputing the forensic evidence against him, and never made any statements about his actions. His defence tried (and failed) to have the count of murder of Grundy, where a clear motive was alleged, tried separately from the others, where there appears to have been no strong motive.

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Although there were many other cases that could have been brought to court, it was decided that it would be hard to have a fair trial, in view of the enormous publicity surrounding the original trial, and in any case would be unnecessary. The Shipman Inquiry concluded he was probably responsible for several hundred deaths.

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Some commentators have postulated that his murder of older women was somehow related to the painful experience of his mother dying when he was young. An arrogant desire to control life and death was proposed as a motive by the prosecution. The Shipman Inquiry suggested that he liked to experiment with drugs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4212627.stm

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