Harold Shipman was a prolific several killer in England. He was a medical doctor who killed over 250 patients. It is believe that he actually murdered at least 400 patients throughout his tenure as a physician. He was only convicted for 15 murders. He was arrested in 1998, after it was discovered that he altered the Last Will and Testament of one of his patients thereby, leaving her fortune to himself and not her daughter.
The Early Childhood of Harold Shipman
Harold Frederick Shipman was born January 14, 1946 in England. Harold Shipman was the middle child of Vera Shipman and Harold Shipman, Sr. His father died when he was just a child. After that Shipman became very close to his mother. Vera always treated Harold as superior to the rest of the family. She instilled in him at an early age that he was destine to become a physician to help heal the sick. When Vera became sick with lung cancer, Harold would watch physicians come to their home and administer Morphine to his mother as she sat in her chair in the living room next to a window. One day his mother died in her chair next to the living room window. Harold who was seventeen at the time, came home from school and found his mother dead in her favorite chair but it looked as though she were asleep. He was quite upset by her death. The way his mother died would become his Method of Operating throughout his time as a doctor. Shipman was a country doctor and would visit his patients at their homes. The women in the area nicknamed him the old lady killer because all of his patients that died were women.
The Less Dead Theory
The Less Theory is poor people and minorities that are considered undesirable by society. These groups generally are the poor, women and children who are ignored and devalued in life. In this case it was rather wealthy widowed women dying. Of course, excuses were made that they died of old age. There were reporters, family and friends that became suspicious of the number of deaths that was being reported by Dr. Shipman. The funeral home in the small town reported the number of deaths to the police and the medical board. They were told that investigations would be launched. The investigations discovered that he was using drugs and he was fined a small fee. Then both investigation were closed.
The Victims of Harold Shipman
- Marie West, 81
- Irene Turner, 67
- Lizzie Adams, 77
- Jean Lilley, 59
- Ivy Lomas, 63
- Muriel Grimshaw, 76
- Marie Quinn, 67
- Kathleen Wagstaff, 81
- Bianka Pomfret, 49
- Norah Nuttall, 65
- Pamela Hillier, 68
- Maureen Ward, 57
- Winifred Mellor, 73
- Joan Melia, 73
- Kathleen Grundy, 81
Shipman’s demise came when he doctored the Last Will and Testament of Kathleen Grundy. She was known as a very vibrate, healthy and youthful individual.When she suddenly died her family was devastated because they knew she was healthy and did a lot of outdoor activities and volunteer work. Then when her daughter discovered that her mother had left her vast fortune to Harold Shipman she was dumbfounded. Her daughter was an attorney. She and her husband went to the police. They also hired a lawyer and discovered the Will had been forged by Dr. Shipman. The police went to the gravesite to recover Kathleen Grundy’s body and discovered that she had been injected with a fatal dose of Morphine. In fact, all of his victims died in the same manner. When the police interviewed Dr. Shipman he denied being the last person to see Ms. Grundy alive. But witnesses put him at her house on the day she died.
The Survivor of Harold Shipman
Shipman saved the life of his cellmate while in prison. His cellmate was having a heart attack and Shipman sprang into action thereby saving his life. It has been noted that Shipman saved a man’s life because he was not his preferred target. Shipman always chose women as his targets.
Lady Justice
Harold Frederick Shipman was sentenced to life in prison with a whole life order which in England means he would never leave prison. He killed himself on January 13, 2004, taking all of his secrets to the grave.
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