Harold Shipman, one of history's most prolific medical murderers, was found dead in his cell on Tuesday, after apparently hanging himself with bed-sheets attached to the bars of his window.
Figure 1.
Harold Shipman: accused of taking “the coward's way out”
Credit: REX FEATURES
Shipman was serving multiple life sentences for murdering 15 women patients while working as a general practitioner in Hyde, Greater Manchester. An inquiry into his case by appeal court judge Dame Janet Smith later found that he had killed at least 215 patients, and possibly as many as 260.
He had just entered the fourth year of his imprisonment, and would have turned 58 this week. On his conviction, trial judge Mr Justice Forbes had told him: “Your crimes are so heinous that in your case life must mean life.”
The Prison Service issued the following statement: “We can confirm the death of Harold Shipman at HMP Wakefield this morning. Mr Shipman was found hanging in his cell at 6.20 am, and despite the best efforts of staff, who immediately attempted resuscitation, he was pronounced dead by a doctor at 8.10 am.”
Prisons minister Paul Goggins said that in view of the public concern about this case, an investigation will be led by the new prisons and probation ombudsman, Stephen Shaw. It had been intended that Mr Shaw would take up his duties in April.
Shipman was on suicide watch at HMP Manchester early in his sentence and again after being moved to HMP Frankland in February 2000, but his recent behaviour had given no cause for alarm. Last month, however, he was stripped of his privileges at Wakefield for general non-compliance with staff. The television in his cell was removed, and he had to wear prison uniform instead of casual clothes. He had regained some privileges, however, before his death.
Danny Mellor, whose mother Winifred, aged 73, was one of the Shipman's last victims, said he was “bloody angry that Shipman has taken the coward's way out.
“I've always harboured a secret desire to confront him, though I know it would never have been allowed,” said Mr Mellor. “Now we'll never know why he did it.”
A spokeswoman for the ongoing Shipman inquiry said: “The death is a matter for others such as the Prison Service. The news does not affect the work of the inquiry.” She said phase II of the inquiry would go ahead as planned and submit its report this summer.