The story of "Doctor Death" Harold Shipman, who killed more than 500 patients

The primary mission of any doctor is to save lives and help those afflicted by illness. Unfortunately, history is replete with horrific exceptions, when a man in a white coat proves more terrifying than any disease. For Dr. Harold Shipman, the Hippocratic Oath was a hollow word. He came to his patients not to treat, but to kill, and he did so with terrifying efficiency. During his "career" as a serial killer, Shipman dispatched, by various estimates, approximately 500 people, earning the title of the most prolific murderer in British history.

Harold Frederick Shipman was born in Nottingham in 1946 to a devout Methodist family. He was a top student at school, and in his free time, he avidly played rugby. His parents doted on their son and predicted a bright future for him. Harold decided on his career at the age of 17, after a tragic event: his mother died of cancer. The shocked young man decided there was nothing more noble than fighting illness and rescuing people from the clutches of death.

In 1965, Shipman successfully enrolled in medical school at the University of Leeds. His studies were easy, leaving him with plenty of time for his personal life. Soon, the student began a passionate affair with Primrose May, the daughter of the landlord of his rented apartment. Their relationship progressed rapidly: she became pregnant, and Harold, who harbored genuine feelings for her, proposed. The young couple married in the fall of 1966.

After receiving his long-awaited diploma in 1970, Harold and his family moved to Todmorden, where he found work as a general practitioner. His wife also found a niche in medicine, working as a nurse in the reception area at a local clinic. Children were born one after another, and soon Harold became the proud father of four. From the outside, it seemed like perfect harmony and prosperity reigned in the Shipman household, but this was only a façade.

Harold had a dark secret—he was a heavy drug addict. It was only a matter of time before this story came to light. In 1974, a major shortage of potent drugs was discovered at the hospital where Shipman worked. An internal investigation quickly led the police to the drug-addicted doctor. He was dismissed in disgrace and brought to trial. Fortunately for Harold, he avoided prison time: he was sentenced to a £600 fine and mandatory treatment for addiction.

By 1977, Harold Shipman had managed to reestablish himself in his profession. However, his reputation in Todmorden was hopelessly damaged, and the family was forced to move. They chose the town of Hyde, where Shipman found work at Donnybrook Medical Center. In 1993, he opened his own private practice. Patients adored the attentive and competent doctor, who always found a moment to simply have a heart-to-heart talk and offer a kind word of comfort.

None of the trusting townspeople even suspected that Death itself, dressed in a white coat, was entering their homes. Shipman is believed to have killed his first victim back in 1984, while still an employee at Donnybrook Hospital. He responded to a call to see an elderly woman suffering from rheumatism. The patient complained of unbearable joint pain, and the caring doctor offered her a powerful painkiller. He personally administered 30 milligrams of diamorphine to the old woman.

A massive dose of the drug instantly relieved the pain—forever. Shipman coolly waited until the woman stopped breathing and then left, grabbing a cheap souvenir from the coffee table. The next day, he officially recorded the pensioner's death. Naturally, he listed "natural causes" in his report.

Having committed murder for the first time, Shipman was nervous and fearful of being discovered. That's why he insistently recommended that the deceased's relatives cremate the body to destroy the evidence. In the UK, cremation requires the approval of two doctors. In this case, the second doctor trusted his authoritative colleague completely and treated the matter formally, simply signing off.

The doctor got away with his first crime, and he decided to keep going. When Shipman moved into private practice, killing became even easier. The doctor went on call-outs and methodically selected his next victim. Typically, they were lonely elderly women: former factory workers, secretaries, housewives. The scenario was always the same: an intravenous injection of a massive dose of diamorphine.

After administering a lethal injection, Shipman remained with his victim until the very end, reveling in his power. He sometimes stole small trinkets from the victims' homes, and later began forging wills for financial gain. By the most conservative estimates, he murdered 71 patients at Donnybrook Clinic and over 400 people during his private practice.

"Dr. Death" wasn't caught until 1998, and his greed was his undoing. Kathleen Grundy, the widow of the former mayor of Hyde, died suddenly. To everyone's surprise, it was revealed that she had left a colossal sum—350,000 pounds—to her attending physician. This aroused great suspicion in the deceased's daughter, Angela. She found it odd that an important document was typed in all capital letters, and with grammatical errors to boot. This was completely unlike her mother, an intelligent woman who retained a clear mind until her last days.

Angela, a lawyer herself, knew exactly what to do. She immediately contacted the two witnesses whose signatures were on the will. They, of course, denied signing anything of the sort. Then the deceased's daughter secured an exhumation and a thorough autopsy. The results were shocking: Grandi had died of a diamorphine overdose.

Shipman was summoned for questioning, but a confession was impossible to extract. The police proceeded cautiously, wary of pressuring such a respected figure in the city. The forged will was annulled, but no direct murder charges were initially brought. However, it soon became clear that Shipman had long been a suspect. For example, taxi driver John Shaw, who frequently drove the doctor's female patients, kept his own "death list"—a notebook containing the names of deceased women.

The taxi driver gave this list of 20 names to investigator Stan Egerton. The detective insisted on exhuming all the bodies. Meanwhile, dark rumors began to circulate throughout the small town. Residents poured in with complaints to the police: people recalled Shipman behaving strangely, inventing absurd reasons for death, and being overly careless in examining the bodies.

Even his secretary, Carol Chapman, testified against the chief. It turned out that her mother, mother-in-law, and two aunts had died under strange circumstances. And, by a fateful coincidence, all of them had been treated by Shipman. The doctor was finally arrested, but he categorically denied any involvement in the deaths. During interrogations, the maniac acted distant—he remained silent, and when shown photographs of the victims, he simply closed his eyes.

The investigation managed to gather compelling evidence on only 15 of the intended 500 counts. But even this was enough for the court to deliver the harshest verdict—life imprisonment. In 2000, Shipman was sent to Manchester Prison without parole. A couple of years later, he was transferred to Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire. It was there that "Doctor Death" took his own life: he hanged himself in his cell on January 13, 2004, just one day before his 58th birthday.

A curious detail: when Shipman's cellmate was asked why he didn't stop the suicide, he simply replied. The doctor allegedly confessed to him that he had killed 508 people, and after this revelation, there was no desire to save him. Psychologists and psychiatrists are still at odds trying to understand the motives of this monster. Some believe he took revenge on the elderly women out of hatred for his mother. Others are convinced that Harold developed a "God complex" and believed he had the right to control the destinies of others.

Harold Shipman is undoubtedly the most prolific serial killer in British history, and perhaps the world's. He surpassed all other medically trained serial killers. Even the sinister Marcel Petiot, nicknamed "Dr. Satan," with his 60 victims, was left far behind. What do you think could have driven a man from a young man who sincerely dreamed of saving lives to a cynical executioner of defenseless old women?