Harold Shipman convicted as prolific serial killer

Harold Shipman, a respected physician in Hyde, Cheshire, was convicted in 2000 of murdering 15 female patients, primarily elderly widows, between 1995 and 1998. While legally held responsible for 15 deaths, subsequent investigations suggested his actual victim count could exceed 100, or even 250 patients.

The investigation began following the death of 81-year-old Kathleen Grundy in 1998. Although Shipman attributed her death to natural causes, her daughter discovered a forged will that left Grundy’s $640,000 estate to the doctor. An exhumation of Grundy’s body revealed she had actually died from a lethal overdose of morphine.

Further police inquiries and exhumations of other patients confirmed a pattern of morphine overdoses. Shipman was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.