The dear doctor from England became famous not only for his medical abilities, but also for the inclinations of a reckless sadist. The investigation has not yet established the exact number of his victims. Someone says that 250, and someone counts to half a thousand! HistoryTime will tell you why the mad doctor killed his patients with impunity for a quarter of a century.
Even now, when all passions in the Shipman case have subsided a little, there is not enough information about the killer. It is known that Harold was born on January 14, 1946 in a modest poor family. The boy was extremely talented: he always handed in his homework before everyone else, passed the exams for the "five" - in general, goody. His parents were proud of him.
When Shipman was 17 years old, his mother died of cancer. This tragedy left a deep imprint on the soul of an impressionable teenager. He vowed to himself that he would become a doctor to help patients fight their illness.
Harold easily entered the desired medical school, and the study was easy for him. In general, the student's life was developing as if by notes: he met a girl-nurse, married her, the couple had four children.
Who knows what pushed Shipman into the drug abyss. An ideal family, an ideal career - however, in 1974, a man was convicted of stealing drugs. He was stripped of his medical title and put on trial. Shipman cried at the trial and swore to "quit".
British justice believed the young doctor and sentenced him to … a £ 600 fine. Later, experts will try to explain such a lenient sentence by the fact that in those days doctors often stole drugs and this was not considered a serious crime.
The first murder, as the police found out, Shipman committed in 1984. The victim was an elderly woman who had long complained to a killer doctor about joint pain. As a result, the man could not stand it and …
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Dr. Harold Shipman is adored by patients of all ages and genders. The happy gray-haired man did not leave anyone indifferent. However, none of the patients suspected that his fate was already a foregone conclusion … HistoryTime will tell about the story of "Doctor Death".
The first murder, as the police found out, Shipman committed in 1984. The victim was an elderly woman who had long complained to a killer doctor about joint pain. As a result, the man could not stand it and "rolled" the suffering old woman immediately 30 mg of pure heroin. The pain subsided instantly. And how else - after all, nothing hurts the dead.
The cynical doctor sat for several minutes near the lifeless body of a woman and enjoyed the long-awaited silence. Then he quickly left the house in order to return to it only the next day - to record the "natural death". To cover up the tracks, Shipman insisted on the inevitable cremation of the corpse. And so it all happened.
The first murder completely blew off the head of the would-be doctor. Since then, he imagines himself to be neither more nor less - the angel of Death! Like a newly minted moira, he took upon himself the responsibility to decide for himself how long who was allotted to live on earth. If the term, in Shipman's opinion, was coming to an end, he injected the patient with a dose of heroin. After each murder, he took some trinket for himself as a keepsake. And he always sent condolences to relatives.
Soon the police were interested in the high mortality rate among Harold Shipman's patients. Of the 136 suspicious deaths, law enforcement officers selected 15 for a more thorough investigation. It turned out that only 9 corpses were buried, and the rest were cremated at the insistence of the doctor. Examinations carried out have established that the cause of death in all cases was an overdose of diamorphine - that very pure heroin.
A study of computer files at Harold Shipman's clinic showed that the medical records of the patients he killed were changed on the day of the murder to make the death look more believable. During the interrogation, Shipman fell on his knees in front of the investigators and began to cry. He received 15 life sentences: in England, they can only be sentenced to death for the murder of a monarch or heir to the throne.
Harold Shipman hanged himself on January 13, 2004 at Wakefield Prison. A year after the verdict of the court.
EKATERINA KERSIPOVA