Harold Shipman: The Doctor Death

This assignment delves into the horrifying crimes of Harold Shipman, a British doctor convicted of murdering 15 patients. It examines how Shipman was able to manipulate and deceive his victims, using forged documents and expert manipulation tactics. The analysis explores various theories surrounding Shipman's motives, including his psychological profile and possible underlying issues. The document highlights the importance of digital evidence in criminal investigations and provides insights into the characteristics commonly found in serial killers.

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Introduction
Serial killer is a term which refers to such individual who murders three or a higher number of
people and this could be due to a number of reasons including abnormal psychological
gratification, and in which the murders take place over a period of months, where a cooling off
period in terms of a major break is included between the murders. There are different criteria
which are applied by the authorities when it comes to designating of the serial killers; though, the
major set the limit of three murders, some lessen it to two and some extend it to four (Waller,
2011). In terms of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, i.e., FBI, serial killing is a series of two or
a higher number of murders which are undertaken as different events, which usually is
undertaken by an offender who acts alone, but the same is not necessary each time. As per FBI,
the motives of serial killers vary from anger, financial gain, attention seeking, and thrill seeking
to psychological gratification (Newton, 2008). Harold Shipman is one of such serial killers who
was a doctor turned serial killer and who used the characteristic of manipulator to murder. The
following parts cover a case study of Harold Shipman and would attempt to explain the manner
in which his characteristic of manipulation played a role in the murders.
Case Study
Harold Frederick Shipman was a British general practitioner, who lived from January 14th, 1946
to 13th January 2004 and is considered as amongst the most prolific serial kills in the recorded
history. In the backdrop of mayhem created by Shipman, the legal structure of the nation relating
to the health care and medicines was reviewed and was altered. He continues to be the only
British physicians who have been found guilty of murdering their patients even when a number
of doctors have been acquitted for crimes of similar nature, or convicted with lesser charges.
Shipman died on his own hands by hanging himself one day before his 58th birthday, at his prison
cell in Wakefield Prison (Whittle and Ritchie, 2009).
On January 31st, 2000, he was found guilty of fifteen murders by the jury, for killing the patients
that were in his care. As a result of this, he was given a life term imprisonment, where a
recommendation was given along with this that he should never be released (Marshall, 2016).

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The Shipman Inquiry was carried on for a period of two years, into the deaths which were
certified by Shipman and this was chaired by Dame Janet Smith who investigated into the crimes
committed by Shipman. 218 victims were identified in the inquiry but the estimated number of
his victims was over 250, where 80% were elderly women. A 41 year old male was his youngest
confirmed victim even when the suspicion was that he had killed patients as young as the age of
four (Plehov, 2014).
Crimes
The crimes of Shipman came to light when a local undertaker noticed that the patients of
Shipman seemed to be dying at a rate which was unusually high and also showed similar poses
in death where the body was always fully clothed and they were usually reclining or sitting up on
a settee. He started becoming suspicious and approached Shipman regarding this issue in a direct
manner (Green, 2015). However, he was reassured by Shipman that the local undertaker had
nothing to worry. Dr. Susan Booth, another medical colleague, after some time also found the
similarity as a disturbing thing and this led to the local coroner’s office being alerted about this
and he raised the alarm bells with the police. Initially a covert investigation was undertaken in
which Shipman was not found guilty and his records appeared to be in proper order. However,
this inquiry never included checking the criminal records or a contact with the General Medical
Council, which would have been proof enough of the earlier record of Shipman. After a more
thorough investigation was undertaken, it was revealed that the medical records of the patients
had been changed by Shipman in order to substantiate their causes of death (Biography, 2017).
Shipman gained the advantage of his status and hid behind the shield of being a caring family
doctor, which made it nearly impossible to ascertain when exactly he had started killing his
patients or that how many individuals had died at his hands. The authorities further faced
difficulty as he denied all the charges. The determination of the daughter of one of his victims,
i.e., of Angela Woodruff, led to his killing spree being brought to an end, as she rejected the
explanations given regarding the cause of death of her mother. Angela’s mother was Kathleen
Grundy who was a wealthy widow of 81 years age and he was found dead on June 24th, 1998, at
her home, after Shipman had visited her. Angela was given the advice that there was no need of
an autopsy and so Kathleen was buried as per the wishes of her daughter (Batty, 2005).

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Angela was a lawyer by profession who had always looked after the affairs of her mother and
this resulted in her being surprised when she saw another will to be present, where her mother
had left the majority of her estate to Shipman. This led to her being sure that the document had
been forged and that Shipman had murdered her mother for getting her estate. She then told all
this to the local police, which led to the Detective Superintendent, Bernard Postles drawing the
very same conclusion after he examined all the evidence. This led to Kathleen’s body being
exhumed and the undertaken post-mortem showed that she died as a result of the overdose of
morphine, which had been given to her within 3 hours of her death and this was within the
timeframe of the visit of Shipman to her (Clarkson, 2005).
When the home of Shipman was raided where an odd collection of jewellery, medical records
and an old typewriter was yielded which proved to be the reason due to which it was shown that
the document produced had been forged regarding the will of Kathleen. This made it clear to the
police that Shipman had forged the document and this led to his medical records being seized,
which led to the case extending beyond a single death and the property shifted to the deaths
which could prove to be the most productive for the investigation, particularly for the victims
who had been cremated and who had died after Shipman visited them at their home. In majority
cases, Shipman had requested the families that there was no need of further investigation into the
death of their loved ones and this was done even in such cases where the relatives had died
owing to unknown reasons to the families. The computerized medical notes of Shipman further
corroborated this (Casey, 2011).
Characteristics
The key characteristic attributed to Harold Shipman was that he was an expert manipulator.
Serials killers have often used the apparent vulnerability and the need of pleasing in an effective
manner, time and again for hiding their sinister personality. In the world, some of the leading and
known serial kills have this terrifying skill of manipulating the ones who are around them, where
they are able to press the correct button for presenting themselves in the false light. Often, the
serial killers are able to manipulate the situations around them for passing the blame of their acts
by using the medical psychological research or the hot button issues of the day for making an
attempt to explain their acts. Shipman was able to use his position as being a medical expert and

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used it to manipulate his patients in their treatments and this ultimately killed them, while
Shipman continued to portray himself as a caring member of the society (Woollaston, 2015).
The manipulators have the ability of pleasing others in their dominant characteristic, and they try
to appear to be vulnerable. They wear a veil of weakness and humility in order to lure their
victims in the false sense of security. The serial killers hide their deep disturbed personality in a
false pretence and portray themselves as the nice guy. Such serial killers have the eerie skill of
reading the people and of manipulating the emotions of other, for getting their way. Harold
Shipman is a leading example of luring the individuals, which included his patients and the
members of the society, into believing that he was a caring and an altruistic member of the
society. This ultimately led to his victims being lured in his sinister plot of inflicting death on
them, in the so called terms of medical treatment (Chase, 2017).
Manipulation is a key trait in majority of psychopaths, in addition to impulsiveness and
aggression and these are the features which further lead them towards the path of criminal
activities. Psychopaths are not only manipulative and also calculating and they do not suffer
from delusions or hallucinations, as is the case with certain set of serial killers. Psychopaths
differ from psychotics as they do not hear voices in their heads or make up false stories regarding
the world (Herve and Yuille, 2017). Apart from the manipulation undertaken by Shipman, some
people believed that he was avenging the death of his mother, who passed away when he was
merely 17 years of age. Some believed that he killed the old ladies by injecting them with
morphine as a manner of easing the burdens. A more disturbing theory is that he considered
himself as a God and could not resist playing the role of one. This is the reason he skilled the
patients to show that he could both save a life and take it as well (Batty, 2005).
Another key characteristic about him was that he was a poisoner, who used lethal injections of
diamorphone on his victims. In this regard he used his tactics and his medical profession as a
manner of gaining access to the clients. His manipulative techniques were all the more important
after he had committed the murder of a victim and he told their loved ones to ignore going
forward with any more examination into the death of the victim, thereby avoiding any chances of
being made liable for their deaths through discovery. He was also filled with greed which led to
him being caught. The forgery of the will of Kathleen was the prime example of this, where he
forged a will of Kathleen and awarded himself the majority of her will. There was an absence of

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violence, sexual overtone, and clear motives save for one instance (Lavina, 2013). Where some
believed he was clinging on to his mother’s death, others believed that he was recreating the
death scene of his murder. Some also state that the fact that he left so many clues was proof
enough that he desperately wanted to be caught and to be stopped and that was fighting a
compulsion which he could not control. However, the exact reason for Shipman being indulged
in such murders is still unknown (Whittle and Ritchie, 2009).
Conclusion
Thus, from the discussion carried on above, it becomes clear that Harold Shipman was a serial
killer who was a medical practitioner and who misused his profession to manipulate his patients
and killed them. Shipman manipulated the families of his victims to avoid any sort of further
follow up in the death of the victims which led to him continuing his evil plans. Even though his
colleagues did raise the alarm bells, his persona and his image as being a proper health
practitioner helped him in avoiding getting caught. However, his acts were brought to the light
when his greed was caught by the daughter of one of his victims, who caught the forged
documents created by Shipman regarding the will of his victim. He had a number of
characteristics as being an expert manipulator, where different reasons were given for him being
indulged in such gruesome acts.

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References
Batty, D. (2005) Q&A: Harold Shipman. [Online] The Guardian. Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/aug/25/health.shipman [Accessed on: 26/11/17]
Biography. (2017) Harold Shipman. [Online] Biography. Available from:
https://www.biography.com/people/harold-shipman-17169712 [Accessed on: 26/11/17]
Casey, E. (2011) Digital Evidence and Computer Crime: Forensic Science, Computers and the
Internet. London: Academic Press.
Chase, J. (2017) Evil Among Us: 5 Traits of Serial Killers. [Online] Author Jennifer Chase.
Available from: https://authorjenniferchase.com/2017/01/13/evil-among-us-5-traits-of-serial-
killers/ [Accessed on: 26/11/17]
Clarkson, W. (2005) Evil Beyond Belief - How and Why Dr Harold Shipman Murdered 357
People. London: John Blake Publishing.
Green, R. (2015) Harold Shipman: The True Story of Britain's Most Notorious Serial Killer.
Luxembourg: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Herve, H., and Yuille, J.C. (2017) The Psychopath: Theory, Research, and Practice. Oxon:
Routledge.
Lavina. (2013) Top 15 Worst Serial Killers World has Ever Seen. [Online] Listovative. Available
from: http://listovative.com/top-15-worst-serial-killers-world-ever-seen/ [Accessed on: 26/11/17]
Marshall, N. (2016) Doctor Death: The True Story of Harold Shipman. Luxembourg:
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Newton, M. (2008) Serial Killers. New York: Infobase Publishing.
Peters, C. (2006) Harold Shipman: Mind Set on Murder: why Shipman Killed and Killed Again:
the True Story. London: André Deutsch.

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Plehov, M. (2014) Harold Shipman: The Doctor of Death. Northamptonshire, United Kingdom:
Igloo Books.
Waller, S. (2011) Serial Killers - Philosophy for Everyone: Being and Killing. West Sussex:
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Whittle, B., and Ritchie, J. (2009) Harold Shipman - Prescription For Murder: The true story of
Dr Harold Frederick Shipman. London: Hachette UK.
Woollaston, V. (2015) How to spot a serial killer: Criminologists reveal five key traits the most
notorious murderers have in common. [Online] Daily Mail. Available from:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3169359/How-spot-serial-killer-Criminologists-
reveal-five-key-traits-common-notorious-murderers.html [Accessed on: 26/11/17]