Dr Harold Shipman
A British GP whose murder trial began this week killed 15 women patients for the enjoyment of exercising the power of life or death, the prosecution alleged at Preston crown court.
Dr Harold Shipman, aged 53, who practised in Hyde, Greater Manchester, denies murdering the women, mainly in their 60s or 70s, and forging the will of one of them, 81 year old Kathleen Grundy.
Opening the trial, which could last until the end of February, Richard Henriques QC, for the prosecution, told the jury: “The defendant killed those 15 patients because, in the submission of the prosecution, he enjoyed doing so. He was exercising the ultimate power of controlling life and death and repeated the act so often he must have found the drama of taking life to his taste.”
The QC said that there were a number of similarities in each death “which cumulatively present a compelling case against the defendant.” He said that the deaths were caused by morphine or diamorphine administered to the patients, none of whom was terminally ill.
In several cases Dr Shipman had falsified records to create a false medical history consistent with the false cause of death that he had attributed to the patient, Mr Henriques added.
He told the jury that in a significant number of cases the GP had assured relatives that no postmortem examination was necessary and had told them that the patient had requested a home visit, when records showed no such request had been made.
Mr Henriques said that Dr Shipman had forged a will in which Mrs Grundy purported to leave him her £400000 estate. The doctor had stated the cause of her death as old age, but she had been active and energetic, and when her body was exhumed substantial amounts of morphine were found.
The will and a follow up letter had been produced on a typewriter found by police at Dr Shipman’s surgery, said the QC.