Warren Buckley
2011-05-07 09:10:49 UTC
Freemason Brother Harold Fredrick Shipman (14 January 1946 - 13 January
2004) was a convicted English serial killer. A doctor by profession, and
member of the Masonic Liberty Lodge number 5573, Brother Harold Shipman
is among the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218
murders being positively ascribed to him, although the actual number is
likely to be much higher.
On 31 January 2000, a jury found Brother Shipman guilty of 15 murders.
Brother Shipman was sentenced to life imprisonment and the judge
recommended that he never be released. The whole life tariff was
confirmed by the Home Secretary a little over two years later.
After his trial, the Shipman Inquiry, which had to be chaired by a
woman, Dame Janet Smith, to avoid Masonic tampering, investigated all
deaths certified by Brother Shipman. About 80% of his victims were
women. His youngest victim was Peter Lewis, a 41-year-old man. Much of
Britain's legal structure concerning health care and medicine was
reviewed and modified as a direct and indirect result of Brother
Shipman's crimes, especially after the findings of the Shipman Inquiry,
which began on 1 September 2000 and lasted almost two years. Brother
Shipman is the only British doctor found guilty of murdering his
patients.
Brother Shipman died on 13 January 2004, after hanging himself in his
cell at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire.
Early life and career
Freemason Brother Harold Frederick Shipman was born in Nottingham,
England, the second of four children of Vera and Harold Shipman, a lorry
driver. His working class parents were devout Methodists. Brother
Shipman was particularly close to his mother, who died of cancer when he
was 17. Her death came in a manner similar to what would later become
Brother Shipman's own modus operandi: in the later stages of her
disease, she had morphine administered at home by a doctor. Brother
Shipman witnessed his mother's pain subside in light of her terminal
condition, up until her death on 21 June 1963.
Brother Shipman received a scholarship to medical school, and graduated
from Leeds School of Medicine in 1970. He started work at Pontefract
General Infirmary in Pontefract, West Riding of Yorkshire, and in 1974,
took his first position as a general practitioner (GP) at the Abraham
Ormerod Medical Centre in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. In 1975 he was
caught forging prescriptions of pethidine for his own use. He was fined
£600, and briefly attended a drug rehabilitation clinic in York. After a
brief period as medical officer for Hatfield College, Durham, and
temporary work for the National Coal Board, he became a GP at the
Donneybrook Medical Centre in Hyde, Greater Manchester, in 1977.
Brother Shipman continued working as a GP in Hyde throughout the 1980s
and founded his own surgery on Market Street in 1993, becoming a
respected member of the community. In 1983, he was interviewed on the
Granada television documentary World in Action on how the mentally ill
should be treated in the community.
Detection
In March 1998, Dr. Linda Reynolds of the Brooke Surgery in Hyde
(prompted by Deborah Massey from Frank Massey and Son's funeral parlour)
expressed concerns to John Pollard, the coroner for the South Manchester
District, about the high death rate among Brother Shipman's patients. In
particular, she was concerned about the large number of cremation forms
for elderly women that he had needed countersigned. She suspected
Brother Shipman was, either through negligence or intent, killing his
patients.
The matter was brought to the attention of the police, who, owing to
Masonic tampering, were unable to find sufficient evidence to bring
charges; The Shipman Inquiry later blamed the police for assigning
inexperienced officers to the case. Between 17 April 1998, when the
police abandoned the investigation, and Brother Shipman's eventual
arrest, Freemason Brother Harold Shipman killed three more people.
Brother Shipman's last victim was Kathleen Grundy, a former ceremonial
Mayor of Hyde, who was found dead at her home on 24 June 1998. Brother
Shipman was the last person to see her alive, and later signed her death
certificate, recording "old age" as cause of death.
Grundy's daughter, lawyer Angela Woodruff, became concerned when
solicitor Brian Burgess informed her that a will had been made,
apparently by her mother (although there were doubts about its
authenticity). The will excluded her and her children, but left £386,000
to Brother Shipman. Burgess told Woodruff to report it, and went to the
police, who began an investigation. Grundy's body was exhumed, and when
examined found to contain traces of diamorphine, often used for pain
control in terminal cancer patients. Brother Shipman was arrested on 7
September 1998, and was found to own a typewriter of the type used to
make the forged will.
The police then investigated other deaths Brother Shipman had certified,
and created a list of 15 specimen cases to investigate. They discovered
a pattern of his administering lethal overdoses of diamorphine, signing
patients' death certificates, and then forging medical records
indicating they had been in poor health.
Prescription For Murder, a book by journalists Brian Whittle and Jean
Ritchie, reports two theories on why Brother Shipman forged the will.
One is that he wanted to be caught because his life was out of control;
the other reason, that he planned to retire at fifty-five and leave the
country.
Trial and imprisonment
Brother Shipman's trial, presided over by Mr Justice Forbes, began on 5
October 1999. Brother Shipman was charged with the murders of Marie
West, Irene Turner, Lizzie Adams, Jean Lilley, Ivy Lomas, Muriel
Grimshaw, Marie Quinn, Kathleen Wagstaff, Bianka Pomfret, Norah Nuttall,
Pamela Hillier, Maureen Ward, Winifred Mellor, Joan Melia and Kathleen
Grundy, all of whom had died between 1995 and 1998.
On 31 January 2000, after six days of deliberation, the jury found
Brother Shipman guilty of killing 15 patients by lethal injections of
diamorphine, and forging the will of Kathleen Grundy. The trial judge
sentenced him to 15 consecutive life sentences and recommended that he
never be released. Brother Shipman also received four years for forging
the will. Two years later, Home Secretary David Blunkett confirmed the
judge's recommendation that Brother Shipman never be released, just
months before British government ministers lost their power to set
minimum terms for prisoners.
On 11 February 2000, ten days after his conviction, the General Medical
Council formally struck Freemason Brother Shipman off its register.
Brother Shipman consistently denied his guilt, disputing the scientific
evidence against him. He never made any statements about his actions.
His defence tried, but failed, to have the count of murder of Mrs
Grundy, where a clear motive was alleged, tried separately from the
others, where no obvious motive was apparent. His wife Primrose
apparently was in denial about his crimes as well.
Although many other cases could have been brought to court, the
authorities concluded it would be hard to have a fair trial, in view of
the enormous publicity surrounding the original trial. Also, given the
sentences from the first trial, a further trial was unnecessary. The
Shipman Inquiry concluded Shipman was probably responsible for about 250
deaths. The Shipman Inquiry also suggested that he liked to use drugs
recreationally.
Despite the prosecutions of Dr John Bodkin Adams in 1957, Dr Leonard
Arthur in 1981, and Dr Thomas Lodwig in 1990 (amongst others), Brother
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".
Death
Freemason Brother Harold Shipman committed suicide by hanging in his
cell at Wakefield Prison at 06:20 on 13 January 2004, on the eve of his
58th birthday, and was pronounced dead at 08:10. A Prison Service
statement indicated that Brother Shipman had hanged himself from the
window bars of his cell using bed sheets. Some British tabloids
expressed joy at his suicide and encouraged other serial killers to
follow his example; The Sun ran a celebratory front page headline, "Ship
Ship hooray!"
Some of the victims' families said they felt cheated, as his suicide
meant they would never have the satisfaction of Brother Shipman's
confession, and answers as to why he committed his crimes. The Home
Secretary David Blunkett noted that celebration was tempting, saying:
"You wake up and you receive a call telling you Shipman has topped
himself and you think, is it too early to open a bottle? And then you
discover that everybody's very upset that he's done it."
Brother Shipman is known to have had the means of his suicide smuggled
into prison by his brethren at Liberty Lodge, who were concerned that
the Masonic Grand Charity would have to support his wife if Brother
Shipman lived beyond 60 and had his pension reduced. Unlike most of his
killings, Brother Shipman's suicide was an act of Brotherly Love towards
his fellow Freemasons.
Despite The Sun's celebration of Brother Shipman's suicide, his death
divided national newspapers, with the Daily Mirror branding him a "cold
coward" and condemning the Prison Service for allowing his suicide to
happen. The Independent, on the other hand, called for the inquiry into
Shipman's suicide to look more widely at the state of Britain's prisons
as well as the welfare of inmates. In The Guardian, an article by Sir
David Ramsbotham (former Chief Inspector of Prisons) suggested that
whole life sentencing be replaced by indefinite sentencing as these
would at least give prisoners the hope of eventual release and reduce
the risk of their committing suicide as well as making their management
easier for prison officials.
Brother Shipman's motive for suicide was easily established, as he had
told his probation officer that he was considering suicide so that his
widow could receive a National Health Service (NHS) pension and lump
sum, even though he had been stripped of his own pension. His wife
received a full NHS pension, which she would not have been entitled to
if he had died after the age of 60. FBI profiler John Douglas asserted
that serial killers are usually obsessed with manipulation and control,
and killing themselves in police custody, or committing "suicide by
cop", can be a final act of control. Shipman had been emotional and
close to tears when his refusal to take part in courses which would have
encouraged him to confess his guilt led to privileges including the
opportunity to telephone his wife being removed. Privileges had been
returned the week before the suicide. Additionally, Primrose, who had
consistently believed that Shipman was innocent, might have begun to
suspect his guilt.
According to Tony Fleming, Brother Shipman's ex-cell mate, Primrose
recently wrote her husband a letter, exhorting him to "tell me
everything, no matter what".
Aftermath
In January 2001, Chris Gregg, a senior West Yorkshire detective was
selected to lead an investigation into 22 of the West Yorkshire deaths.
Following this, a report into Brother Shipman's activities submitted in
July 2002 concluded that he had killed at least 215 of his patients
between 1975 and 1998, during which time he practiced in Todmorden, West
Yorkshire (1974 - 1975) and Hyde, Greater Manchester (1977 - 1998). Dame
Janet Smith, the judge who submitted the report, admitted that many more
suspicious deaths could not be definitively ascribed to him. Most of
Freemason Brother Harold Shipman's victims were elderly women in good
health.
In her sixth and final report, issued on 24 January 2005, Smith reported
that she believed that Brother Shipman had killed three patients, and
she had serious suspicions about four further deaths, including that of
a four-year-old girl, during the early stage of his medical career at
Pontefract General Hospital, West Riding, Yorkshire. Smith concluded the
probable number of Brother Shipman's victims between 1971 and 1998 was
250. In total, 459 people died while under his care, but it is uncertain
how many of those were Brother Shipman's victims, as he was often the
only doctor to certify a death.
The Shipman Inquiry also recommended changes to the structure of the
General Medical Council.
The General Medical Council charged six doctors who signed cremation
forms for Brother Shipman's victims with misconduct, claiming they
should have noticed the pattern between Shipman's home visits and his
patients' deaths. All these doctors were found not guilty. Brother
Shipman's widow, Primrose Shipman, was called to give evidence about two
of the deaths during the inquiry. She maintained her husband's innocence
both before and after the prosecution.
In October 2005, a similar hearing was held against two doctors who
worked at Tameside General Hospital in 1994, who failed to detect that
Brother Shipman deliberately administered a "grossly excessive" dose of
morphine.
A 2005 inquiry into Brother Shipman's suicide found that it "could not
have been predicted or prevented," but that procedures should
nonetheless be re-examined.
In 2005, it came to light that Brother Shipman might have stolen
jewellery from his victims. Over £10,000 worth of jewellery had been
found in his garage in 1998, and in March 2005, with Primrose Shipman
pressing for it to be returned to her, police wrote to the families of
Brother Shipman's victims asking them to identify the jewellery.
Unidentified items were handed to the Assets Recovery Agency in May. In
August the investigation ended: 66 pieces were returned to Primrose
Shipman and 33 pieces, which she confirmed were not hers, were
auctioned. The proceeds of the auction went to Tameside Victim Support.
The only piece actually returned to a murdered patient's family was a
platinum-diamond ring, for which the family were able to provide a
photograph as proof of ownership.
A memorial garden to Brother Shipman's victims, called the Garden of
Tranquillity, opened in Hyde Park (Hyde) on 30 July 2005.
Harold and Fred (They Make Ladies Dead) was a 2001 strip cartoon in Viz,
also featuring serial killer Fred West. Extracts from the strip were
subsequently merchandised as a coffee mug.
Shipman, a television dramatisation of the case, was made in 2002 and
starred James Bolam in the title role. The case was also referenced in
an episode of the 2003 television series Diagnosis: Unknown called
"Deadly Medicine" (Season 2, Episode 17, 2003). Brother Shipman's
activities also inspired D.A.W., an episode of the American TV series
Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In it, the police investigate a physician
who they discover has killed 200 of his patients.
Both The Fall and Jonathan King have released songs about Brother
Shipman. The Fall's song is, "What About Us?", from the 2005 album Fall
Heads Roll.
King's song became controversial when, six months after its release, it
was reported to be in Brother Shipman's defence, urging listeners not to
"fall for a media demon".
In early 2009, families of the victims of Freemason Brother Shipman are
still seeking compensation for the loss of their loved ones.
In September 2009, it was announced that letters written by Brother
Shipman during his prison sentence were to be sold at auction. Following
complaints from victims' relatives and the media, the letters were
removed from sale. The Freemasons at Liberty Lodge have subsequently
admitted that Brother Harold Shipman was in "full fellowship" with them.
2004) was a convicted English serial killer. A doctor by profession, and
member of the Masonic Liberty Lodge number 5573, Brother Harold Shipman
is among the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218
murders being positively ascribed to him, although the actual number is
likely to be much higher.
On 31 January 2000, a jury found Brother Shipman guilty of 15 murders.
Brother Shipman was sentenced to life imprisonment and the judge
recommended that he never be released. The whole life tariff was
confirmed by the Home Secretary a little over two years later.
After his trial, the Shipman Inquiry, which had to be chaired by a
woman, Dame Janet Smith, to avoid Masonic tampering, investigated all
deaths certified by Brother Shipman. About 80% of his victims were
women. His youngest victim was Peter Lewis, a 41-year-old man. Much of
Britain's legal structure concerning health care and medicine was
reviewed and modified as a direct and indirect result of Brother
Shipman's crimes, especially after the findings of the Shipman Inquiry,
which began on 1 September 2000 and lasted almost two years. Brother
Shipman is the only British doctor found guilty of murdering his
patients.
Brother Shipman died on 13 January 2004, after hanging himself in his
cell at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire.
Early life and career
Freemason Brother Harold Frederick Shipman was born in Nottingham,
England, the second of four children of Vera and Harold Shipman, a lorry
driver. His working class parents were devout Methodists. Brother
Shipman was particularly close to his mother, who died of cancer when he
was 17. Her death came in a manner similar to what would later become
Brother Shipman's own modus operandi: in the later stages of her
disease, she had morphine administered at home by a doctor. Brother
Shipman witnessed his mother's pain subside in light of her terminal
condition, up until her death on 21 June 1963.
Brother Shipman received a scholarship to medical school, and graduated
from Leeds School of Medicine in 1970. He started work at Pontefract
General Infirmary in Pontefract, West Riding of Yorkshire, and in 1974,
took his first position as a general practitioner (GP) at the Abraham
Ormerod Medical Centre in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. In 1975 he was
caught forging prescriptions of pethidine for his own use. He was fined
£600, and briefly attended a drug rehabilitation clinic in York. After a
brief period as medical officer for Hatfield College, Durham, and
temporary work for the National Coal Board, he became a GP at the
Donneybrook Medical Centre in Hyde, Greater Manchester, in 1977.
Brother Shipman continued working as a GP in Hyde throughout the 1980s
and founded his own surgery on Market Street in 1993, becoming a
respected member of the community. In 1983, he was interviewed on the
Granada television documentary World in Action on how the mentally ill
should be treated in the community.
Detection
In March 1998, Dr. Linda Reynolds of the Brooke Surgery in Hyde
(prompted by Deborah Massey from Frank Massey and Son's funeral parlour)
expressed concerns to John Pollard, the coroner for the South Manchester
District, about the high death rate among Brother Shipman's patients. In
particular, she was concerned about the large number of cremation forms
for elderly women that he had needed countersigned. She suspected
Brother Shipman was, either through negligence or intent, killing his
patients.
The matter was brought to the attention of the police, who, owing to
Masonic tampering, were unable to find sufficient evidence to bring
charges; The Shipman Inquiry later blamed the police for assigning
inexperienced officers to the case. Between 17 April 1998, when the
police abandoned the investigation, and Brother Shipman's eventual
arrest, Freemason Brother Harold Shipman killed three more people.
Brother Shipman's last victim was Kathleen Grundy, a former ceremonial
Mayor of Hyde, who was found dead at her home on 24 June 1998. Brother
Shipman was the last person to see her alive, and later signed her death
certificate, recording "old age" as cause of death.
Grundy's daughter, lawyer Angela Woodruff, became concerned when
solicitor Brian Burgess informed her that a will had been made,
apparently by her mother (although there were doubts about its
authenticity). The will excluded her and her children, but left £386,000
to Brother Shipman. Burgess told Woodruff to report it, and went to the
police, who began an investigation. Grundy's body was exhumed, and when
examined found to contain traces of diamorphine, often used for pain
control in terminal cancer patients. Brother Shipman was arrested on 7
September 1998, and was found to own a typewriter of the type used to
make the forged will.
The police then investigated other deaths Brother Shipman had certified,
and created a list of 15 specimen cases to investigate. They discovered
a pattern of his administering lethal overdoses of diamorphine, signing
patients' death certificates, and then forging medical records
indicating they had been in poor health.
Prescription For Murder, a book by journalists Brian Whittle and Jean
Ritchie, reports two theories on why Brother Shipman forged the will.
One is that he wanted to be caught because his life was out of control;
the other reason, that he planned to retire at fifty-five and leave the
country.
Trial and imprisonment
Brother Shipman's trial, presided over by Mr Justice Forbes, began on 5
October 1999. Brother Shipman was charged with the murders of Marie
West, Irene Turner, Lizzie Adams, Jean Lilley, Ivy Lomas, Muriel
Grimshaw, Marie Quinn, Kathleen Wagstaff, Bianka Pomfret, Norah Nuttall,
Pamela Hillier, Maureen Ward, Winifred Mellor, Joan Melia and Kathleen
Grundy, all of whom had died between 1995 and 1998.
On 31 January 2000, after six days of deliberation, the jury found
Brother Shipman guilty of killing 15 patients by lethal injections of
diamorphine, and forging the will of Kathleen Grundy. The trial judge
sentenced him to 15 consecutive life sentences and recommended that he
never be released. Brother Shipman also received four years for forging
the will. Two years later, Home Secretary David Blunkett confirmed the
judge's recommendation that Brother Shipman never be released, just
months before British government ministers lost their power to set
minimum terms for prisoners.
On 11 February 2000, ten days after his conviction, the General Medical
Council formally struck Freemason Brother Shipman off its register.
Brother Shipman consistently denied his guilt, disputing the scientific
evidence against him. He never made any statements about his actions.
His defence tried, but failed, to have the count of murder of Mrs
Grundy, where a clear motive was alleged, tried separately from the
others, where no obvious motive was apparent. His wife Primrose
apparently was in denial about his crimes as well.
Although many other cases could have been brought to court, the
authorities concluded it would be hard to have a fair trial, in view of
the enormous publicity surrounding the original trial. Also, given the
sentences from the first trial, a further trial was unnecessary. The
Shipman Inquiry concluded Shipman was probably responsible for about 250
deaths. The Shipman Inquiry also suggested that he liked to use drugs
recreationally.
Despite the prosecutions of Dr John Bodkin Adams in 1957, Dr Leonard
Arthur in 1981, and Dr Thomas Lodwig in 1990 (amongst others), Brother
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".
Death
Freemason Brother Harold Shipman committed suicide by hanging in his
cell at Wakefield Prison at 06:20 on 13 January 2004, on the eve of his
58th birthday, and was pronounced dead at 08:10. A Prison Service
statement indicated that Brother Shipman had hanged himself from the
window bars of his cell using bed sheets. Some British tabloids
expressed joy at his suicide and encouraged other serial killers to
follow his example; The Sun ran a celebratory front page headline, "Ship
Ship hooray!"
Some of the victims' families said they felt cheated, as his suicide
meant they would never have the satisfaction of Brother Shipman's
confession, and answers as to why he committed his crimes. The Home
Secretary David Blunkett noted that celebration was tempting, saying:
"You wake up and you receive a call telling you Shipman has topped
himself and you think, is it too early to open a bottle? And then you
discover that everybody's very upset that he's done it."
Brother Shipman is known to have had the means of his suicide smuggled
into prison by his brethren at Liberty Lodge, who were concerned that
the Masonic Grand Charity would have to support his wife if Brother
Shipman lived beyond 60 and had his pension reduced. Unlike most of his
killings, Brother Shipman's suicide was an act of Brotherly Love towards
his fellow Freemasons.
Despite The Sun's celebration of Brother Shipman's suicide, his death
divided national newspapers, with the Daily Mirror branding him a "cold
coward" and condemning the Prison Service for allowing his suicide to
happen. The Independent, on the other hand, called for the inquiry into
Shipman's suicide to look more widely at the state of Britain's prisons
as well as the welfare of inmates. In The Guardian, an article by Sir
David Ramsbotham (former Chief Inspector of Prisons) suggested that
whole life sentencing be replaced by indefinite sentencing as these
would at least give prisoners the hope of eventual release and reduce
the risk of their committing suicide as well as making their management
easier for prison officials.
Brother Shipman's motive for suicide was easily established, as he had
told his probation officer that he was considering suicide so that his
widow could receive a National Health Service (NHS) pension and lump
sum, even though he had been stripped of his own pension. His wife
received a full NHS pension, which she would not have been entitled to
if he had died after the age of 60. FBI profiler John Douglas asserted
that serial killers are usually obsessed with manipulation and control,
and killing themselves in police custody, or committing "suicide by
cop", can be a final act of control. Shipman had been emotional and
close to tears when his refusal to take part in courses which would have
encouraged him to confess his guilt led to privileges including the
opportunity to telephone his wife being removed. Privileges had been
returned the week before the suicide. Additionally, Primrose, who had
consistently believed that Shipman was innocent, might have begun to
suspect his guilt.
According to Tony Fleming, Brother Shipman's ex-cell mate, Primrose
recently wrote her husband a letter, exhorting him to "tell me
everything, no matter what".
Aftermath
In January 2001, Chris Gregg, a senior West Yorkshire detective was
selected to lead an investigation into 22 of the West Yorkshire deaths.
Following this, a report into Brother Shipman's activities submitted in
July 2002 concluded that he had killed at least 215 of his patients
between 1975 and 1998, during which time he practiced in Todmorden, West
Yorkshire (1974 - 1975) and Hyde, Greater Manchester (1977 - 1998). Dame
Janet Smith, the judge who submitted the report, admitted that many more
suspicious deaths could not be definitively ascribed to him. Most of
Freemason Brother Harold Shipman's victims were elderly women in good
health.
In her sixth and final report, issued on 24 January 2005, Smith reported
that she believed that Brother Shipman had killed three patients, and
she had serious suspicions about four further deaths, including that of
a four-year-old girl, during the early stage of his medical career at
Pontefract General Hospital, West Riding, Yorkshire. Smith concluded the
probable number of Brother Shipman's victims between 1971 and 1998 was
250. In total, 459 people died while under his care, but it is uncertain
how many of those were Brother Shipman's victims, as he was often the
only doctor to certify a death.
The Shipman Inquiry also recommended changes to the structure of the
General Medical Council.
The General Medical Council charged six doctors who signed cremation
forms for Brother Shipman's victims with misconduct, claiming they
should have noticed the pattern between Shipman's home visits and his
patients' deaths. All these doctors were found not guilty. Brother
Shipman's widow, Primrose Shipman, was called to give evidence about two
of the deaths during the inquiry. She maintained her husband's innocence
both before and after the prosecution.
In October 2005, a similar hearing was held against two doctors who
worked at Tameside General Hospital in 1994, who failed to detect that
Brother Shipman deliberately administered a "grossly excessive" dose of
morphine.
A 2005 inquiry into Brother Shipman's suicide found that it "could not
have been predicted or prevented," but that procedures should
nonetheless be re-examined.
In 2005, it came to light that Brother Shipman might have stolen
jewellery from his victims. Over £10,000 worth of jewellery had been
found in his garage in 1998, and in March 2005, with Primrose Shipman
pressing for it to be returned to her, police wrote to the families of
Brother Shipman's victims asking them to identify the jewellery.
Unidentified items were handed to the Assets Recovery Agency in May. In
August the investigation ended: 66 pieces were returned to Primrose
Shipman and 33 pieces, which she confirmed were not hers, were
auctioned. The proceeds of the auction went to Tameside Victim Support.
The only piece actually returned to a murdered patient's family was a
platinum-diamond ring, for which the family were able to provide a
photograph as proof of ownership.
A memorial garden to Brother Shipman's victims, called the Garden of
Tranquillity, opened in Hyde Park (Hyde) on 30 July 2005.
Harold and Fred (They Make Ladies Dead) was a 2001 strip cartoon in Viz,
also featuring serial killer Fred West. Extracts from the strip were
subsequently merchandised as a coffee mug.
Shipman, a television dramatisation of the case, was made in 2002 and
starred James Bolam in the title role. The case was also referenced in
an episode of the 2003 television series Diagnosis: Unknown called
"Deadly Medicine" (Season 2, Episode 17, 2003). Brother Shipman's
activities also inspired D.A.W., an episode of the American TV series
Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In it, the police investigate a physician
who they discover has killed 200 of his patients.
Both The Fall and Jonathan King have released songs about Brother
Shipman. The Fall's song is, "What About Us?", from the 2005 album Fall
Heads Roll.
King's song became controversial when, six months after its release, it
was reported to be in Brother Shipman's defence, urging listeners not to
"fall for a media demon".
In early 2009, families of the victims of Freemason Brother Shipman are
still seeking compensation for the loss of their loved ones.
In September 2009, it was announced that letters written by Brother
Shipman during his prison sentence were to be sold at auction. Following
complaints from victims' relatives and the media, the letters were
removed from sale. The Freemasons at Liberty Lodge have subsequently
admitted that Brother Harold Shipman was in "full fellowship" with them.