Harold Shipman The Most Prolific British General Practitioner

Killing 215 of his patients, Harold Shipman was the first and most prolific British General Practitioner. On January 31, 2000; Shipman was found guilty of 15 murders. But he was responsible for a lot more. “The answer to why Harold Shipman became Britain’s most prolific serial killer remains locked away in his mind.” (Telegraph). Although the reason Harold Shipman became Britain’s most prolific serial killer remains a mystery, most of his motives point to his relationship with his mother, his enjoyment of the power over death, and his obsession with drugs.

Shipman was born in Nottingham, England, he was the middle child of four children. He had working class Methodist parents; Harold Frederik Shipman and Vera Brittan. He studied medicine at

Shipman was the last person to see her alive at her home. Where she was found dead on June 24, 1998. He signed her death certificate as “poor health”. He wouldn’t have been brought under suspicion if he hadn’t tried to get the remaining for Grundy’s money in a forged will. Angela Woodruff, Grundy’s daughter and lawyer, became concerned when a solicitor notified her about a will. That was supposedly made by her mother, the will left out her and her children but left $747,250 to Shipman. The solicitor told Woodruff to report it to the police and when Grundy’s body was examined high amounts of heroin was found. He was arrested on September 7, 1998 and the typewriter that made the forged will was found. An investigation was underway and other deaths Shipman had certified. A pattern of administrating of lethal doses of heroin, signing patient’s death certificates and finally falsifying medical records to “poor health” emerged (Wikipedia). The trial commenced in Preston Crown Court on October 5, 1999, he was tried on three separate cases (Wikipedia). Cases with physical evidence, without evidence and lastly the Grundy case. Fraudulent accumulation of morphine and other drugs, were thrown out, and the trial proceeded on the sixteen charges included in the inducement (Wikipedia). Angela Woodruff appeared as first witness and in her attempts to get the truth from Shipman, impressed the jury. But he tried to undermine her and he was largely unsuccessful. A government pathologist was up next, which led the court through some gruesome post mortem findings, where morphine overdose was the cause of death in most cases (Wikipedia). A fingerprint and computer analysis conformed Grundy never handled the forged will and Shipman had altered his computer records; to create false symptoms his patients never had just hours before their deaths. Evidence of drug hoarding was introduced along with false