Harold Shipman nicknamed Doctor Death

The British police are approaching their duties quite "traditionally". In this country, citizens with good reputation are rarely recorded as one of the main suspects. Even the proverb on this subject is: "In England, gentlemen are trusted to the word." It is thanks to such traditions that Harold Shipman is a respectable and, at first glance, positive - he killed his innocent patients for a long time, successfully avoiding justice. Today this criminal is not called differently than Doctor Death, but the real number of his victims is still unknown.

Biographical information

January 14, 1946 - the date of birth of Harold Frederic Shipman. The boy was born into a family of ordinary workers, was a smart enough and versatile child, showing excellent performance in school. At the age of 17 Harold lost his mother, whose cause of death was a serious oncological disease. According to the versions of many sources, it was after this incident that the young man decided to become a doctor. In 1965, the future criminal becomes a student at the medical school in Leeds, a year later marries a girl who was met in this city. Harold Shipman was an ideal husband and father, already in 1970 he began medical practice as a district doctor, and his wife worked in the same medical institution in the registry. In marriage, four children were born. In 1974, Chimpan was convicted of stealing drugs that had a narcotic effect. In court, the offender was deprived of the title and the opportunity to work in the medical field, and a fine was imposed as punishment. But three years later, after completing the rehabilitation course for drug addicts, Harold regained the title of doctor, moved with his family to another city - Hyde, and again began to receive patients.

The first murder

According to a version of the official investigation, Harold Shipman killed his first victim in 1984. A good doctor at the house was called by one of his patients - a woman at a venerable age. The main complaint concerned pain in the joints. After listening to her and carefully recording all the symptoms, Shipman offered an injection of an anesthetic drug. After receiving the patient's consent, he injected her with diamorphine (pure heroin). The caring doctor did not hurry to leave his ward, even when she said she felt much better. With horrified composure, he sat and watched as the patient slowly died, rejoicing at the absence of pain. When everything was over, Shipman took the souvenir on the table and left. And the next day allegedly accidentally came to visit a woman and diagnosed a "fatal outcome for natural reasons."

He thought of everything

The death of a woman of solid age, suffering from a whole bunch of chronic diseases, did not surprise anyone. But still Harold Shipman was safe and insisted on cremation of the body. At that time, two doctors were required to perform this procedure. However, in fact, only one specialist showed initiative, and the second agreed in the name of "guild" solidarity and, without looking, signed the papers. Accordingly, there were no difficulties with sweeping the evidence. After cremating the body of the first victim, Shipman himself felt himself a genius of conspiracy and practically a god. Of course, he committed a "genius" murder - without unnecessary blood and any traces. It is not surprising that the criminal did not stop there and soon repeated his experience.

The first scandal involving Dr. Death

Soupman from the houses of his victims Shipman began to take away from the very first murder. Very soon he realized that his crimes allow not only to collect small trinkets. Then Dr. Death began to forge the wills, and at first these machinations did not arouse suspicion either. And really, what is it about this, if one of the elderly patients decided to leave a beloved physician with a small amount of money after his death? A feeling of complete impunity generated a craving for new crimes, and soon Harold Shipman (Doctor Death) turned too brazen a scam. In 1998, after the death of Haida Kathleen Grandi, her will was voiced, according to which the personal doctor of the deceased received 350 thousand pounds sterling. The deceased earlier was the mayor of the city, and there were no questions about her material condition. But the testament itself caused a lot of suspicions in the daughter of Haida, who worked in the field of jurisprudence. Shipman in this document tried to depict the handwriting of an aging, exhausted woman, purposefully increasing the font and making a lot of spelling mistakes. While the daughter of the deceased knew the mother's neat handwriting and did not doubt her literacy. The will was contested, but on this the relatives of the deceased did not calm down and achieved exhumation and re-examination of the remains. The results shocked the public: a woman died of an overdose of diamorphine. Harold Shipman was questioned by the police, but denied everything, after which he was released, since knocking out testimonies from a reputable doctor with many years of practice, according to British notions, is unethical ...

Suspicions and rumors

In fact, Harold Shipman is a doctor who seemed strange to many of his patients. Relatives of people killed by them sometimes noticed the loss of small decorative objects. Unusual seemed to obsessive advice cremate the dead, or refusals to conduct an examination that establishes the cause of death. But against the background of the experience of grief, such things seem insignificant, moreover, people were simply ashamed to go to the police with their own speculations about such a positive person and a real professional in their field. Relatives of the dead began to give evidence only after almost complete proof of the doctor's guilt.

Official investigation

Interrogations of Shipman himself did not give any result. And then the detectives obtained permission to conduct forensic medical examinations, exhuming the bodies and ashes of 15 patients who suddenly died during treatment. The results of the study shocked: all these people died from a drug overdose. Later, a search was conducted in the office of the main suspect and noticed that the medical history always changed on the day of the patient's death, containing a note on the sharp deterioration of the condition. However, despite all the facts, Harold Shipman, nicknamed Doctor Death, was in no hurry to admit. On the contrary, right up to the announcement of the court decision, he insisted that the results of all the examinations were incorrect, and he did not kill anyone.

The verdict for the murder doctor

For his crimes (15 proven murders) Harold Shipman was sentenced to 15 life sentences. According to UK law, the death penalty can only be imposed for the murder of a ruling monk or heir to the throne. However, numerous decrees and amendments have emphasized that this person should never be released. According to some sources, after the announcement of the verdict, Harold Shipman, whose photo was already in all the newspapers with the signature "Doctor Death", cried, kneeling, and begged to reconsider the case. But, of course, these requests were not satisfied, and very soon the murderer went to serve his sentence in the prison of Wakefield.

End of the story of Harold Shipman

In 2014, Dr. Death was found hanged in his cell. Journalists immediately dubbed this event as the last chord of the game in God, by which "almighty", in his own opinion, Shipman deprived himself of life. But there is a more prosaic version - probably the convict simply realized that his situation is desperate, and suicide is not the worst option for resolving the situation.

Harold Shipman left many questions after his death. How many victims are there on the account of the criminal? His sentence was received by Doctor Death for 15 proven murders, but among his patients, 136 people died unexpectedly and suspiciously. There are rumors that already in prison Shipman said that there are a lot more victims - as many as 508 people. However, no one will ever know the truth.

The news of the death of this man, for understandable reasons, was met by the public, if not with joy, then with relief for sure.