Who was Dr Harold Shipman?

Harold Frederick Shipman (14th January 1946 - 13th January 2004), also known as _Doctor Death_ or _The Grim Reaper_, was an English general practitioner who was found guilty of murdering 15 of his patients between 1975 and 1998. It is believed that he may have killed even more patients during his 28-year career, potentially making him one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history.

Shipman was born in Nottingham, England, and attended the University of Leeds Medical School. He began practicing medicine in 1970 and soon gained a reputation as a caring and compassionate doctor. However, behind this façade, Shipman was actually a cold and calculating killer who preyed on his own patients.

Shipman's modus operandi was to visit his patients in their homes and administer lethal doses of diamorphine. He would then forge their signatures on prescriptions to make it appear as though they had requested the medication themselves. In many cases, Shipman would also falsify their medical records to make it seem as though they were suffering from terminal illnesses.

Despite the fact that Shipman's patients were dying at an unusually high rate, it took the authorities many years to catch on to his crimes. This was due in part to the fact that Shipman was a well-respected doctor in the community and many people were reluctant to believe that he could be capable of such heinous acts.

It wasn't until 1998, after a concerned relative of a deceased patient contacted the police, that the investigation into Shipman's activities finally began. The subsequent investigation revealed a pattern of suspicious deaths and Shipman was eventually arrested and charged with murder.

In January 2000, Shipman was found guilty of 15 murders and sentenced to life in prison. He was stripped of his medical license and his name was removed from the medical register.

In January 2004, Shipman committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell. He was 57 years old.

Shipman's case is one of the most shocking and disturbing in British criminal history. It raised serious questions about the ability of the medical profession to regulate itself and exposed the vulnerability of elderly and disabled people to abuse and neglect.