Harold "Fred" Shipman, the child of working class parents, was a popular teenager, well-liked and accepted at Manchester's Pavement High Grammar School. His life, however, changed in 1963 when his mother, Vera Shipman, died of lung cancer. She was 43. He was 17.

At his mother's side, young Shipman for the first time observed the power of medical pharmacology. He watched during the later stages of her death as doctors battled his mother's intractable pain with drugs like morphine. The alleviation of her suffering, and, perhaps the very drawn-out way she died, fascinated Shipman.

1965 found Mr. Shipman at Leeds University, where he studied to become a doctor. He was a diligent student, but his private life became complicated early in his studies. Girlfriend Primrose became pregnant with the first of their four children.

Shipman graduated in 1970 and started working at Pontefract General Infirmary. By four years later, he had joined an established practice in Todmorden as a general practitioner.

In June, 1998, Angela Woodruff was shocked to learn of the death of her mother. A phone call from the police conveyed the sad news. Friends, she was told, had found her mother's body after she failed to show up for an appointment at a luncheon club where she volunteered as a server. She had been sitting, fully clothed, on her settee.

Her mother was Catheline Grundy, a spunky, outgoing 81-year-old widow and former mayor of Hyde. Mrs. Grundy, as far as her daughter knew, had no chronic medical condition that could have led to what seemed like a sudden, unexplained death. In fact, said Woodruff, "We used to joke that she as fitter than us."

Dr. Shipman began to have blackouts at Todmorden. Colleagues suspected that it might be a form of epilepsy, but they soon found out that Dr. Shipman had a drug addiction.

He was writing out prescriptions for pethidine, a morphine-like drug, for himself.

Dr. Shipman was dismissed from the practice, and he agreed to pay a fine and enter a drug treatment program in York. Afterwards, he avoided publicity, but he did return in 1977 to work as a general practitioner in Hyde.

In 1993, with his wife as his secretary-receptionist, the doctor opened his own practice. He attracted a large number of patients and found success.

One of his patients was Catheline Grundy.

After learning of her mother's death, Mrs. Woodruff called Dr. Shipman's office and talked with Primrose, who took a message.

When the doctor called back, he told Woodruff that a post-mortem would not be necessary, as he had visited her mother shortly before her death. The elderly woman, the doctor said, had been suffering from chest pains. It was perhaps understandable that she had not shared her concerns with her loved ones.

A few days later, Woodruff was contacted by solicitors handling her mother's $985,000 estate. Surprisingly, she learned that her mother had changed her will before her death, leaving the bulk of her estate to Dr. Shipman.

Bad business for elderly ladies was good business for Masseys' undertakers. They inherited the bodies of many of Dr. Shipman's patients, and they noted that many of them were single women who died suddenly.

Doctors at Brooke Surgery, a clinical practice across the road from Shipman's surgery, talked among themselves about the unfortunate numbers of deaths among Dr. Shipman's elderly female patients.

Angela Woodruff could not believe the condition of her mother's will. It was badly typed, which was not characteristic of her mother's careful nature, and it entirely failed to mention a separate house that her mother owned.

When she took her complaints to the police, they had reason to begin an investigation. Dr. Shipman was arrested for suspicion of fraud, and the body of Catheline Grundy was exhumed.

High amounts of diamorphine, which is also known as heroin, were found in Grundy's body.

The police began to investigate other deaths among Shipman's patients. He was eventually charged with the deaths of fifteen patients, but the police continued to investigate at least 130 additional cases.

In all cases, Dr. Shipman appeared to use diamorphine. He would visit his victims at home, inject them with the drug under some pretense, and leave before the drug took effect.

Kamran Abbasi, of the Indian newspaper, The Weekly, writes: "His victims will have passed away peacefully, perhaps with a contented smile; that is the effect a huge dose of diamorphine has. The victims' relatives, far from condemning Shipman at the time, would have thanked him profusely for the care and attention that he showed. The perfect murder? Just about. Who would doubt a doctor going about his work, healing pain?"

Remember those doctors at Brooke Surgery? One of them actually contacted the police in 1998, concerned about the number of patient deaths that Shipman experienced. That investigation continued for six weeks and was stopped for lack of evidence.

Shipman caused three more deaths after this investigation ended.

It would take another death, and a daughter unwilling to accept its circumstances, to bring the police back to their investigation.

Perhaps the doctor should have chosen his last victim with greater care. Perhaps he also should have further considered his chances when he modified Mrs. Grundy's will.

Mrs. Woodruff, you see, Grundy's daughter, is an attorney.

On Saturday, January 6, 2001, London Police announced that new evidence links Shipman to at least 300 additional murders.

Kamran Abbasi in The Week (India)  Feb. 27, 2000
Doctor Death

Philip Atkinson
The Shipman Case (1998-2000)

Yahoo News UK & Ireland
Harold Shipman Murder Case

BBC News Online
The Death that led Shipman to the Dock