The British former GP Harold Shipman murdered at least 215 of his patients, the first phase of the public inquiry into the serial killings concluded last week. There is a “real suspicion” that he claimed the lives of another 45 victims, according to the judge leading the inquiry.
High court judge Dame Janet Smith said Shipman may have been hoping to get caught when he altered the will of his last victim, Kathleen Grundy, 81. The “crude forgery” of the will “made detection inevitable,” she said, concluding: “It is hard to resist the inference that Shipman was driven by a need to draw attention to himself and his crimes.”
The inquiry examined a total of 888 cases in its 2000 page report, Death Disguised. Shipman was found not responsible for 604 deaths, and no conclusion was reached in a further 38 cases. The 215 people that the inquiry determined were killed by Shipman comprised 171 women and 44 men.
Asked if Shipman's motives would ever become clear, Dame Janet said, “The short answer, I think, is no. Only he could answer that question and at the moment it seems very unlikely he will.” Shipman continues to proclaim his innocence and refuses to submit to psychiatric examination.
“I think it likely that whatever it was that caused Shipman to become addicted to pethidine also led to other forms of addictive behaviour,” said Dame Janet. “It is possible that he was addicted to killing.”
The inquiry, which has already reviewed 3500 witness statements, will enter its second phase this autumn, looking at how Shipman escaped detection for so long and how he produced corroborating signatures from other doctors on cremation certificates.
The former GP has reported the forensic psychiatrist who examined him in custody to the General Medical Council. He accuses Dr Richard Badcock of breaching patient confidentiality by giving a newspaper interview. The GMC is currently investigating the complaint.
Footnotes
The report can be accessed at www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk/reports.asp