THE SHIPMAN CASE
1. Who was Harold Shipman ?
Harold Frederick “Fred” Shipman (14 January 1946 – 13 January 2004) was a convicted English serial killer. A doctor by profession, he is among the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218 murders being positively ascribed to him, although the real number is likely to be higher than this.
2. How did he manage to cover up his crimes?
Shipman exploited the trust invested in GPs to access drugs which he used to kill. Then he lied on death certificates to cover up his crimes.
3. How can one account for Shipman’s final “mistake”?
Ultimately it was left to Shipman himself to make the mistake that would bring about his downfall. For some unfathomable reason he had decided to forge Mrs Grundy's will to inherit her entire £380,000 estate. It was a feeble attempt and the pensioner's daughter, Angela Woodruff, a solicitor, immediately became suspicious. After briefly making her own inquiries, she called in police.
4. What Flaws in the system did this case highlight?
Despite the prosecutions of Dr John Bodkin Adams in 1957, Dr Leonard Arthur in 1981, and Dr Thomas Lodwig in 1990 (amongst others),Shipman is the only doctor in British legal history to be found guilty of killing patients.According to historian Pamela Cullen, Adams had also been a serial killer—potentially killing up to 165 of his patients between 1946 and 1956—and it is estimated he may have killed over 450, but as he "was found not guilty, there was no impetus to examine the flaws in the system until the Shipman case. Had these issues been addressed earlier, it might have been more difficult for Shipman to commit his crimes."H. G. Kinnell, writing in the British Medical Journal, also speculates that Adams "possibly provided the role model for Shipman".
Exercise 2
1. ->d
2. -> g
3. ->a
4. ->f
5. -> b 6. ->h
7. -> e
8. ->c
Exercise 3
Evidence :
- The matter was brought to the attention of the police, who were unable to find