Killers_ The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Time - Cawthorne, Nigel [111]
‘In many cases I have been unable to reach a definite conclusion,’ she said. However, of the 137 deaths she investigated at Pontefract – 133 of which Shipman had signed a death certificate or cremation order – she was suspicious about 14 which were ‘probably natural but there is one or more feature of the evidence that gives rise to some suspicion or unease’.
The commission found that Shipman had been present in at least one third of the cases he had certified, compared to an average of 1.6 per cent for other doctors. It was also found that an unusually high percentage of the deaths had occurred between 6 p.m. and midnight.
It now seems that Shipman’s first victim was probably 67-year-old Margaret Thompson, who had been recovering from a stroke. She died in March 1971, and records indicated that Shipman had been alone with her at the time.
Dame Janet said Shipman had murdered 54-year-old Thomas Cullumbine, 84-year-old John Brewster and 71-year-old James Rhodes in April and May 1972. She also had ‘quite serious suspicions’ about the deaths of 74-year-old Elizabeth Thwaites, 72-year-old Louis Bastow, 70-year-old John Auty Harrison and four-year-old Susan Garfitt. She was possible his youngest victim and a break from his normal pattern, as all his other victims were elderly.
A sufferer from cerebral palsy, Susan Garfitt had been admitted to Pontefract General Infirmary on 11 October 1972 with pneumonia. Her mother, Ann Garfitt, recalled Dr Shipman telling her in a soothing voice that the child was going to die and that further medication would only prolong her suffering. After asking him to be kind to the child, Mrs Garfitt went for a cup of tea. When she returned, a nurse told her that Susan had died. Looking back, she wondered whether Shipman had taken her request for kindness as tacit consent to performing euthanasia on her child. In the circumstances, the inquiry decided that Shipman had probably given the child a lethal injection. Other serial killers who have worked in health care often warn that a patient is going to die before killing them.
In three cases – 86-year-old Butterfield Hammill, 57-year-old Cissie MacFarlane and 49-year-old Edith Swift – Shipman had administered inappropriate treatment injecting ‘dangerously large doses of a sedative drug’.
‘There is some evidence that he liked to test the boundaries of certain forms of treatment,’ said Dame Janet. ‘It is quite likely that some of the deaths Shipman caused resulted from experimentation with drugs.’
In her opinion many of these patients would have died anyway, perhaps within a few hours, but Shipman’s drug experiments hastened their deaths. These deaths usually occurred during the evening shift when there were fewer medical personnel around to see him at work. Then he made unusual entries in their medical records, including strange comments on their deaths. There were also notations that were similar to those seen on the notes of patients he was convicted of killing. Shipman mocked his patients, dismissing them with the abreviations FTPBI (Failed To Put Brain In) and WOW (Whining Old Woman).
In all, Dame Janet positively identified 218 victims, though 45 cases might merit further investigation, making a total that could exceed 260. However, the final report has discounted the claim of former prisoner Jonathan Harkin that Shipman confessed to 508 murders while he was held in prison in Preston.
The report also criticised the Greater Manchester Police, saying that ‘three of Harold Shipman’s victims could have been saved if police had investigated properly’. An internal inquiry was also found to be ‘quite inadequate’. The police later apologised to the families of Shipman’s last three victims.
Dame Janet also criticised the coroners, saying that, in future, they ‘would be backed by a team of expert investigators to ensure that a homicidal doctor such as Shipman