The Trial Of Harold Shipman (22nd August 2024)
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00:00:00Do you think there are still some people in Hyde who don't think he's guilty?
00:00:04Oh, there are, yeah. I work with the young girl.
00:00:07But does he want to accept that he did anything wrong?
00:00:11It was a crime that divided a community...
00:00:14It's hard to believe, isn't it?
00:00:16..and shocked the nation.
00:00:18The media interest was like nothing I'd ever seen before.
00:00:21I think it was highly charged.
00:00:23But there's a side to this story you've never seen before.
00:00:27A real sense of anticipation as to what we were in for.
00:00:31Now we go inside the courtroom.
00:00:33Shipman would like to spar the prosecuting counsel.
00:00:37He didn't like being asked the questions, he didn't like being challenged.
00:00:40A family GP charged with murdering his patients.
00:00:44Shipman effectively just treats her as dead of natural causes.
00:00:48She was going to get him.
00:00:50Using the court transcripts.
00:00:52Unusual fact that you suspect an 81-year-old of taking drugs.
00:00:56We hear from the prosecution team.
00:00:58I thought the explanation was crazy in the first place.
00:01:02Relatives of the victims.
00:01:04It didn't look right.
00:01:06He found her dead lying on the sofa.
00:01:09We examine the testimony of key witnesses.
00:01:12He was staring at me, trying to intimidate me.
00:01:16And forensic experts.
00:01:19The likelihood there might be a toxicological cause
00:01:22was creeping up and up.
00:01:24And we hear from journalists who were at the trial.
00:01:27Why does he look as though he really hasn't got a care in the world?
00:01:30This is the untold story.
00:01:33There is a moment where you think, is this going to be a problem for us?
00:01:37Of the trial of Britain's most prolific serial killer.
00:01:40Members of the jury, I was physically shaking.
00:01:44Do you find this defendant guilty or not guilty of murder?
00:01:55Trusting your doctor was something we'd always taken for granted.
00:02:00After morning surgery, there are numerous calls on patients to be made.
00:02:05One of his calls this morning is on an old patient.
00:02:08She suffers from arthritis.
00:02:10A chat with the doctor will relieve her loneliness
00:02:13and probably do her as much good as any treatment.
00:02:16The trial of Dr Harold Shipman changed all that.
00:02:22For the people of Hyde, this quiet, industrious and friendly community
00:02:26going about its usual business with a natural degree of normality.
00:02:30I was a North of England correspondent based in Manchester.
00:02:35We had no idea at that time how big this story was going to become.
00:02:40We thought it would probably be a case of euthanasia
00:02:43to hasten elderly ill people out of this world.
00:02:47But then we began to gather that it went a lot further than that.
00:02:52I was a branch crown prosecutor
00:02:54where I was responsible for prosecutions coming from the Hyde Police Division.
00:02:59Inside Dr Shipman's surgery,
00:03:01the walls are covered with hundreds of cards and messages of support.
00:03:05Not many people believed that he was guilty.
00:03:08It was clearly thought by them that the case was going nowhere.
00:03:12But they were wrong.
00:03:14Just over a year after his arrest,
00:03:16Shipman is on trial for murdering 15 of his patients.
00:03:20Harold Frederick Shipman, a 53-year-old GP from Hyde,
00:03:24was brought to Preston Court from Strangeways Prison where he's on remand
00:03:28to hear the prosecution outline its case to the jury.
00:03:37At this point, I am an early 20-something press officer.
00:03:41This is my first major trial, so all of this is huge for me, absolutely huge.
00:03:48The media interest was like nothing I'd ever seen before.
00:03:52His family was also at court, his wife Primrose, two sons and a daughter.
00:03:57It was quite strange arriving at a court with so many press there.
00:04:02I think it was highly charged.
00:04:04Inside the court, a real sense of anticipation as to what we were in for.
00:04:10Harold Frederick Shipman.
00:04:13When Shipman came into court,
00:04:16it was the first time we had a chance to have a really good, long look at this man.
00:04:21I thought he looked like the most ordinary person.
00:04:24If you'd seen him in the street, walked past him
00:04:26and never noticed him prior to his notoriety.
00:04:30Is it conceivable that this doctor really did kill all those patients?
00:04:36The very opening of the first statement by the prosecuting barrister...
00:04:40Ladies and gentlemen...
00:04:42..completely dismissed that.
00:04:44The defendant's full name is Harold Frederick Shipman.
00:04:47He's a general medical practitioner.
00:04:49The prosecution allege that he has murdered 15 of his patients
00:04:53by administering substantial doses of morphine or diamorphine
00:04:57very shortly before they died, thereby causing them to die.
00:05:02I think the purpose of an opening statement is to set the scene.
00:05:06The case is that Dr Shipman was a serial killer.
00:05:10There is no question in this case of euthanasia
00:05:13or what is sometimes called mercy killing.
00:05:15None of the deceased was terminally ill.
00:05:18The defendant killed those 15 patients
00:05:21because in the submission of the prosecution,
00:05:23he enjoyed the freedom of expression.
00:05:26He killed those 15 patients because in the submission of the prosecution,
00:05:30he enjoyed doing so.
00:05:32He was exercising the ultimate power of controlling life.
00:05:36Life and death.
00:05:38And he repeated the act so often
00:05:40that he must have found the drama of taking life to his taste.
00:05:44To hear Shipman being called a serial killer
00:05:47and killing because he wanted to do it
00:05:49was really quite a moment that sort of hit you in the pits of the stomach.
00:05:53Members of the jury, it is on the evidence that we submit
00:05:57he is guilty in each and every count of this indictment.
00:06:02What struck us was the enormity of Shipman's crimes,
00:06:07the extent of what he had been doing.
00:06:10We're talking about Shipman, in many cases, had visited patients at home.
00:06:14They had been, to all intents and purposes, perfectly fit, perfectly well,
00:06:18and yet by the end of the day, they had died.
00:06:24There has to be a limit on what sort of evidence the jury can take in.
00:06:30We were absolutely at the maximum, 15.
00:06:34No-one has ever been charged with this number of murders.
00:06:38Some think it's too many cases for one trial.
00:06:42There was a lot of nervousness, really,
00:06:44about whether the jury would feel overwhelmed by the evidence
00:06:47and overwhelmed by what was going to be
00:06:50several months of sitting and listening.
00:06:53Yet Shipman pleads not guilty to every single charge.
00:06:58This had been a very, very good police investigation.
00:07:01So we thought, why does he look as though he really hasn't got a care in the world?
00:07:05He wouldn't look that confident if he didn't have a rock-solid defence.
00:07:09He's going to surprise us at some point.
00:07:21Good name, I'm Ken.
00:07:23Yes, yes.
00:07:25She loved him, didn't you, really?
00:07:27Yes, I did.
00:07:28Because I knew he'd be all right with me.
00:07:30There's nothing wrong with him.
00:07:32A lot of people used to say,
00:07:36wonderful daughter, but...
00:07:39Why?
00:07:43Harold Shipman, charged with the murder of 15 patients,
00:07:46has come to court for this trial that's expected to run into the new year.
00:07:52This is Justice Forbes.
00:07:54That's Richard Enriquez.
00:07:56Dr Shipman looking very intense.
00:07:59This is Defence Team.
00:08:01The atmosphere in this trial was very intense.
00:08:06It's almost like an Agatha Christie thing.
00:08:08Did he really do this?
00:08:17Prosecution start their case with the events that led to Shipman's arrest.
00:08:30It was quite interesting that of these 15 alleged murders,
00:08:34that the prosecution started with the last one.
00:08:37It was through the murder of Kathleen Grundy that he was caught.
00:08:41The daughter, he tried to change her mother's will
00:08:45and she was smart enough to look into him.
00:08:48If it hadn't been for her, he would have just continued on.
00:08:52He could be doing it to this day.
00:08:54Mrs Grundy's daughter became suspicious
00:08:57when she discovered her mother's £386,000 estate
00:09:01had been left to Dr Shipman.
00:09:03A local firm of solicitors received a will supposedly from Mrs Grundy,
00:09:08but she wasn't one of their clients.
00:09:11The will arrived in the post of this firm of lawyers in Hyde.
00:09:14It was unexpected.
00:09:16It was delivered on the same day Mrs Grundy died.
00:09:19Kathleen Grundy was a former mayoress of Hyde.
00:09:23She was 81 years old.
00:09:25She was a very respected woman in the town.
00:09:28She was very lively, very active.
00:09:31We introduced the evidence around Kathleen Grundy's will
00:09:35very, very early on in the trial.
00:09:37And the reason for that was not only was it a compelling piece of evidence,
00:09:40but it really illustrated to the jury
00:09:43what a dishonest man Dr Shipman was.
00:09:46Mrs Woodruff said she became suspicious about the will,
00:09:49she became suspicious about her mother's death.
00:09:51She called the police.
00:09:54In a way, the forged will was rather inconsequential relative to the murder,
00:09:59but it provided very clear evidence of wrongdoing
00:10:03in which Shipman was directly implicated.
00:10:07Prosecution want to show that Kathleen Grundy's death was unexpected.
00:10:12Was she indeed, up to her death, a member of the mayoress of Hyde's committee?
00:10:17She was.
00:10:18And was she one of the principal volunteers,
00:10:21organising lunches three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday?
00:10:25Yes, those were her three days, yes.
00:10:28Kathleen did a lot of charity work
00:10:31to help to run effectively a luncheon club,
00:10:34and on the day that she died, she failed to turn up.
00:10:37What age of person was she catering for there?
00:10:40I suppose between 65 and 85.
00:10:43People younger than her, a lot of them.
00:10:45The other organisers were a bit concerned about that
00:10:48and eventually one of them went up to the house
00:10:51and he found the front door unlocked,
00:10:54which would have been very uncharacteristic of Kathleen,
00:10:57and he went in and found her dead, lying on the sofa.
00:11:03As you read the wording on the will,
00:11:05were you able to associate that with your mother's phraseology?
00:11:09Not at all, no.
00:11:11She was very professional, but, my goodness, you could feel
00:11:16she was not going to let this go and she was going to get him.
00:11:21Did you recognise the signature on the will?
00:11:24The signature looked strange, it looked too big, it didn't look right.
00:11:28It was so unlike Kathleen.
00:11:31If she had wanted to make a different will
00:11:34and had not wanted to involve a solicitor,
00:11:37she might have bought the form,
00:11:39but she would have filled it in by hand and it would be immaculate.
00:11:43Prosecution have to prove it was Shipman who faked the will.
00:11:48There was a typewriter in Dr Shipman's surgery.
00:11:52Letters that were received by Hamilton's solicitors
00:11:56had been typed on Dr Shipman's typewriter.
00:12:00The will was signed by two people who, when interviewed by police,
00:12:03said that they had never countersigned a will
00:12:05and there was a fingerprint on the bottom of the will,
00:12:08which turned out to be Shipman's little finger.
00:12:10There was no reason for there to be a fingerprint of his
00:12:13on Kathleen Grundy's will unless he had had something to do
00:12:16with the production of that will.
00:12:18But Shipman's defence team has other ideas.
00:12:29The defence strategy was to establish that Mrs Grundy
00:12:33would have had a reason not to leave her property to her daughter,
00:12:37and the way that they did that was to try to establish
00:12:40that there had been some sort of a rift between mother and daughter.
00:12:43They focus on the dwindling number of visits they made to each other.
00:12:48Question. In earlier years, if she was going to,
00:12:51or contemplating going to you, she would make an entry in the diary.
00:12:54Whereas in the year 1998,
00:12:56there does not appear to be a specific entry in her diary.
00:12:59I don't think there is any significance in that at all.
00:13:03They were using a diary that had actually been compiled by the deceased,
00:13:07and that's often very, very good evidence,
00:13:10because no-one can argue with a piece of documentary evidence.
00:13:14But this documentary evidence turns out to be an own goal for the defence.
00:13:19J Shaw Taxi 1250.
00:13:22That is the taxi to go to the station to come to our house.
00:13:26I met her from the train on that day.
00:13:29It was very clear that, in fact, there were entries for taxi journeys
00:13:33which could only be consistent with a visit
00:13:36that Angela Woodruff had described by her mother.
00:13:39It is a matter of fact that she stayed with us for two weeks at Easter
00:13:43in April 1998.
00:13:46I have no further questions, thank you.
00:13:49This actually helped the prosecution
00:13:52because Angela kind of underlined the closeness of that family
00:13:56and that this will was clearly a forgery.
00:14:01The prosecution team have exposed Shipman forging a patient's will.
00:14:06Now they move on to present compelling evidence about Kathleen Grundy's death.
00:14:11Shipman was due to come round to take blood samples from her.
00:14:16So we knew he'd been round there with needles
00:14:19and it didn't take too much imagination
00:14:23that he was likely to have injected her with something that was fatal.
00:14:31The silence of the cemetery was broken only by the groaning of the mechanical digger,
00:14:36a tool of justice in one of the most difficult police investigations
00:14:40ever undertaken in Britain.
00:14:42As far as the reporters were concerned it took us back a year
00:14:45because we had all covered the exhumations
00:14:48and so when the pathologist came to give his evidence
00:14:51we finally learnt what this was all about.
00:14:58Dr Rutherford is a forensic pathologist
00:15:01and he was the pathologist who carried out the tests on the bodies
00:15:04the Greater Manchester Police exhumed as part of the Shipman trial.
00:15:08This was a routine forensic autopsy
00:15:11and I was looking for any trauma or natural disease to explain death.
00:15:16Now, were you able to establish whether or not
00:15:19there was any obvious pathological abnormality
00:15:22which might account for sudden unexpected death?
00:15:25No, I couldn't account for any abnormality.
00:15:28As the autopsy progressed and this was excluded, that was excluded,
00:15:34the likelihood in my mind that there might be a toxicological cause
00:15:39was creeping up and up.
00:15:41Could it be properly said that Kathleen Grundy died of old age?
00:15:44No.
00:15:45Morphine was present in various tissues of the body
00:15:48in sufficient quantity to account for death?
00:15:51Yes.
00:15:57In all the cases they did not have conditions
00:16:00that would justify the use of morphine
00:16:03and the presence of morphine would be something abnormal and of concern.
00:16:09We knew going into the trial central to our case was the forensics
00:16:13and the evidence about the morphine being present in those bodies
00:16:16but equally that actually if any area was going to be contested
00:16:20it was going to be that area.
00:16:22But Shipman's defence team make a surprising decision.
00:16:26Rather than challenge the pathologist's claims now
00:16:29they choose to play a waiting game.
00:16:32There are perfectly sensible tactical reasons
00:16:35why if you have five or six or eight really, really strong cross-examination points
00:16:40that might well create a seed of doubt in the mind of the jury
00:16:43about the pathologist in general,
00:16:45the best thing to do is to leave that cross-examination
00:16:48towards the end of the prosecution case
00:16:50so that it's fresher in the jury's mind
00:16:52and so that the impact is stronger because you're doing it all in one go.
00:16:58This allows the prosecution to continue to present more evidence
00:17:02of Shipman's alleged wrongdoing.
00:17:04Mr Henrik has said that during the trial the prosecution will point out
00:17:08a number of similarities in all 15 cases
00:17:11which when taken together would make a compelling case against Dr Shipman.
00:17:18The first of these was the unusual way in which the women who died had been found.
00:17:24I'm reading from the witness testimony of a friend of Maria West.
00:17:28Question, how did she appear to you at that time?
00:17:30How did she look?
00:17:31She just looked as though she'd fallen asleep.
00:17:33Her head was on one side.
00:17:35This is the testimony of a community support worker
00:17:39called to the home of Bianca Pomfret.
00:17:42She was sitting there so thought of, if you like,
00:17:45peacefully in such a restful position
00:17:47as if she'd been watching telly and fallen asleep.
00:17:51They died alone. They died during the day.
00:17:54They died either in the presence of their GP
00:17:56or not long after seeing their GP.
00:17:58They died fully dressed, usually sat in a chair.
00:18:01And all of those circumstances, when you ask any doctor
00:18:04who's dealt with the death of patients,
00:18:06they would say, actually, that's quite suspicious
00:18:08to have so many that have those circumstances.
00:18:10He seems to have been in the room close to them, perhaps holding their hands,
00:18:14as they breathed their last.
00:18:16Was he getting a kick out of that?
00:18:18He may well have been.
00:18:20Dr Shipman's manner with the bereaved families also raises suspicions.
00:18:26It was a total abuse of trust.
00:18:28As to why the man did this, I don't think anybody knows.
00:18:32Maybe he doesn't even know himself.
00:18:35I was asked to be a witness at his trial,
00:18:37mainly because I happened to be in a home
00:18:41where somebody had recently been found dead.
00:18:45Did you give the last rites to Winifred Mellor?
00:18:48I did. Yes, I did.
00:18:50Did you then remain with the family
00:18:52until the doctor, Dr Shipman, arrived at the house?
00:18:56I stayed with the family, yes.
00:18:59Winifred Mellor was a grandmother, but she was a very active lady.
00:19:03She regularly enjoyed playing football with her grandchildren.
00:19:06She had a very nice life.
00:19:08On the day of her death,
00:19:10Shipman claimed she had rung and asked him to visit her.
00:19:13When he arrived, did you gain any impression at that stage,
00:19:17so far as his manner was concerned?
00:19:19I actually opened the door and said,
00:19:22Evening, Doctor.
00:19:24He breezed past me and more or less ignored Mrs Mellor
00:19:28and said to the daughters,
00:19:30You know your mother had a heart condition, don't you?
00:19:33He was abrupt.
00:19:35He could appear to be lacking in sympathy.
00:19:38What came across was a kind of a callousness.
00:19:41He followed this up immediately without pausing
00:19:45with a question to the family,
00:19:47Have you got an undertaker?
00:19:50I did not realise that I would be so near Dr Shipman.
00:19:54He was within a few feet of me, staring at me,
00:19:59trying to intimidate me all the time.
00:20:02I said to Dr Shipman,
00:20:04If you don't mind, Doctor, I will help the family with that.
00:20:09But Dr Shipman didn't take any notice of what I said and continued.
00:20:14And his next sentence was,
00:20:16There will be no problem with the death certificate.
00:20:20Just come down to my surgery at 9.30 in the morning.
00:20:24I think the effect this had on the jury members and the courtroom really
00:20:28was that they really started to feel and see this difference
00:20:32between the portrayal of Dr Shipman by the defence
00:20:35and actually the real character of Dr Shipman.
00:20:40The defence strategy in every case up and down the land
00:20:43is to poke holes in that witness's evidence,
00:20:46possibly due to the passage of time,
00:20:48possibly due to a lack of objectivity
00:20:50or a degree of bias against the defendant.
00:20:52You were very close to the family, weren't you?
00:20:54Yes, I was.
00:20:56Do you think you've lost your objectivity about it?
00:20:59I certainly don't think I've lost my objectivity.
00:21:03No, sir.
00:21:04I was thinking, I'm not going to let this little job of Palestine put me down.
00:21:11And I object very much to you saying that I had lost my objectivity, sir.
00:21:18I'm sorry you feel that.
00:21:20The jury, they were looking at me and I felt they're really going along with me here
00:21:25because they know I'm trying to be absolutely truthful
00:21:28and I got the impression they're saying, yes, yes, keep going.
00:21:35When that priest came along and said that Shipman was behaving
00:21:38exactly as other family members had said in that case and in other cases,
00:21:42that was important, independent, corroborative evidence,
00:21:45the general prosecution case theory,
00:21:48that Shipman was an odd and strange character
00:21:51and didn't behave as you'd expect an empathetic and professional doctor to behave.
00:21:58Prosecution continue to build their case on the similarities between the deaths.
00:22:04But there is one murder that stands out because it's different.
00:22:08One that sticks in my mind is the case of Ivy Lomas.
00:22:11The reason I remember that is because she actually died in Shipman's surgery.
00:22:17One of Shipman's alleged victims died in his surgery.
00:22:21This allows the prosecution to ask serious questions
00:22:25about Shipman's conduct as a GP.
00:22:28Mrs Lomas went to Dr Shipman, although in no great discomfort,
00:22:32said the prosecution had found no evidence to support her claim.
00:22:36She said that she had no evidence to support her claim.
00:22:40She said that she had no evidence to support her claim.
00:22:44Although in no great discomfort, said the prosecution, she had chest pains.
00:22:50Ivy Lomas was a patient who was well known to Shipman.
00:22:53She was quite a frequent visitor.
00:22:55She'd gone into his consultation room, he'd then taken her into his treatment room.
00:22:59After doing that, he'd then come out there and seen two or three patients
00:23:03before telling the receptionist that he had a problem.
00:23:06The receptionist heard Dr Shipman take Mrs Lomas to the treatment room
00:23:10and about ten minutes later the doctor announced she was dead.
00:23:15The Ivy Lomas death was particularly difficult for the defence
00:23:19because you had someone actually dying in a doctor's surgery,
00:23:22something that I've certainly never come across in the context of a homicide case
00:23:26in my 30-odd years of legal practice.
00:23:28After her death, he allegedly told a police officer
00:23:31that the 63-year-old widow was such a nuisance
00:23:34he'd considered reserving a seat for her in the surgery
00:23:37and putting a plaque above the chair.
00:23:40The fact that he then doesn't call an ambulance,
00:23:43doesn't attempt to resuscitate
00:23:45and effectively just treats her as dead of natural causes...
00:23:49On the death certificate, Shipman writes that Ivy died of a heart attack.
00:23:54Prosecution call another GP for his perspective
00:23:57on how Shipman deals with her death.
00:24:01Dr Grenville was the prosecution's expert GP
00:24:04and he gave evidence on behalf of the prosecution
00:24:07about Shipman's record-keeping, note-taking behaviour as a GP
00:24:12and really what a normal GP would do under similar circumstances
00:24:17in terms of deaths of patients.
00:24:19So, putting yourself, if you're able, in the position of Dr Shipman there,
00:24:24how ought matters in your view to have proceeded?
00:24:28Given the incident occurred in the surgery
00:24:30and that other people, including the receptionist, were present,
00:24:34I would have expected the doctor to call to the receptionist
00:24:37to dial 999 for an ambulance.
00:24:41Informing ambulance control, it was a cardiac arrest.
00:24:46His analysis of how a general practitioner should conduct his affairs
00:24:51contrasted markedly with how Dr Shipman had,
00:24:55which is why, of course, it annoyed him so much.
00:24:58This would have resulted in the dispatch of an ambulance,
00:25:01which hopefully would have had trained paramedics on board
00:25:04and certainly a defibrillator.
00:25:06So this would have meant that help was available as rapidly as possible.
00:25:11I would imagine that it would have been a hammer blow to him
00:25:14to hear somebody from his own profession
00:25:17effectively say this man was a cowboy.
00:25:20When points were raised, he was trying to attract the attention
00:25:23of the poor defence junior, not all passing him notes.
00:25:29My experience is that juries are very conscious of the personalities
00:25:33in a long trial.
00:25:34That's why we always tell our clients,
00:25:36you must keep a poker face, you must keep a calm demeanour,
00:25:39whatever happens, because if a defendant reacts...
00:25:43..they will make some judgements about that, rightly or wrongly,
00:25:46of what it says about the defendant's guilt.
00:25:48A very useful weapon, I have to say, was employing Dr Grenville.
00:25:53If he could get under his skin, that was the best way of dealing with it.
00:25:57And I think he was one of the few people
00:25:59who did manage to get under his skin.
00:26:05This is the first glimpse inside the surgery.
00:26:08These pictures show ordinary but high-technology consulting rooms.
00:26:12Dr Shipman was well-versed in computers.
00:26:16This interview has been tape-recorded.
00:26:18It may be given in evidence if your case is brought to court.
00:26:22I want to go back to the computer medical records.
00:26:27Can you tell me why there's no reference there,
00:26:29if you're taking any blood from it?
00:26:31Would it be an oversight?
00:26:34It could have been.
00:26:38Police make a huge discovery
00:26:40when they analyse patient records on Shipman's computer.
00:26:45What Shipman didn't realise was that our computer experts
00:26:49were able to see at exactly what point computer records
00:26:53were both created and added to and amended.
00:26:57So if anything was changed,
00:26:59they will be able to see almost like a shadow imprint of that change
00:27:02and when it was done.
00:27:03Computer experts reconstructed his computer tracks
00:27:07and provided key evidence against him.
00:27:10This is an entry that purports to relate to 1st August 1997.
00:27:15Chespay, comment, all appears OK, two question marks,
00:27:20angina, created at three minutes past four on the afternoon
00:27:24of the day of the discovery of the body of Mrs Mellon.
00:27:28Many patient records were altered after the women died.
00:27:33Next entry, purports to relate to 26th January 1998.
00:27:38Term, chespay, comment, odd times on exercise,
00:27:42does not let it stop her,
00:27:44angina, created within two minutes of the previous backdated entry.
00:27:51We were able to see he had killed her
00:27:53and then he had created a false medical history
00:27:55to match what he would put onto the death certificate.
00:27:59This isn't an isolated example.
00:28:01There were at least nine cases
00:28:03where he had altered and falsified medical records.
00:28:08For over three weeks, the prosecution present evidence
00:28:12from more than 150 witnesses,
00:28:14exposing the full extent of Shipman's manipulation and dishonesty.
00:28:20He came, he just bent over, he says, she's gone.
00:28:23I said, she can't have, I can feel a pulse.
00:28:26He says, no, that's yours, I'll cancel the ambulance.
00:28:30And that was Shipman all over.
00:28:33They build a picture of Shipman's repeated wrongdoing.
00:28:37I said we would need a post-mortem and he said no.
00:28:40I can say that it was a stroke because of the way she was lying.
00:28:45I think that what struck us was the number of people
00:28:48who continued relentlessly building up this picture.
00:28:52There were no calls either requesting an ambulance...
00:28:55No telephone calls to the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service.
00:28:58Definitely there is a pattern emerging.
00:29:00There was no call on the 18th day...
00:29:02And it's being repeated time and time again.
00:29:06You establish a pattern, which I think it would then be
00:29:10very difficult for the defence to counter.
00:29:14But Shipman's defence have something up their sleeve.
00:29:17They wait till now to make a significant challenge
00:29:20to the prosecution's case, the forensic evidence.
00:29:25We knew the cause of death was due to poisoning from morphine.
00:29:30We had no idea what the defence was going to argue to explain that.
00:29:38The court heard that the prosecution toxicologist
00:29:41found fatal levels of morphine in the victim's bodies.
00:29:45But the defence is poised to test the reliability of her methods.
00:29:49It was a practice that had only just been adopted
00:29:52at the Forensic Science Service.
00:29:54As it's something new, it can easily be challenged.
00:29:58You were embarking on somewhat novel territory, weren't you,
00:30:01in having to carry out this analysis
00:30:03on bodies exhumed for this period of time?
00:30:05Yes, there has been very little done
00:30:07in terms of studies on exhumed bodies.
00:30:10There are relatively few exhumations for toxins
00:30:13that have been found in the bodies.
00:30:16There are relatively few exhumations for toxicology purposes anyway.
00:30:20And that did not make your considerable task any easier?
00:30:23No.
00:30:25The defence, for once in this trial, had something really good to go on.
00:30:30They had a witness who was prepared to be open and honest,
00:30:33and they had extremely good points.
00:30:36There is no data available on the effect of embalming,
00:30:39and specifically the effect of formaldehyde,
00:30:41on muscle tissue and or morphine.
00:30:43That's correct, yes.
00:30:45The defence team may have undermined
00:30:48the reliability of the morphine findings.
00:30:51Bear in mind that the job of the defence isn't to prove anything,
00:30:55but to create doubt.
00:30:57These were very, very significant areas
00:30:59where the defence clearly and calmly established
00:31:02the limitations of the science.
00:31:06They now turn their attention to casting doubt
00:31:09on the reliability of the pathologist's findings.
00:31:13Can I ask this, please, in respect of the analysis?
00:31:15How have you interpreted the toxicology in each of the nine cases?
00:31:19I have accepted views and statements
00:31:22regarding the fatal potential of the morphine found.
00:31:26So what the defence there are saying is,
00:31:29your conclusions only work if the toxicology is in fact accurate,
00:31:34because you completely relied upon that toxicology without question
00:31:38in coming to your conclusions as to cause of death.
00:31:41We were dependent on the testing
00:31:44that had been carried out on these samples,
00:31:46so it was obvious if you were defending,
00:31:49it would be something worth investigating and querying
00:31:53and raising as a doubt in the minds of the jury, wouldn't it?
00:31:57There is a moment where you think,
00:31:59is this going to be a problem for us in terms of the prosecution case?
00:32:03This was the point at which actually we were saying,
00:32:06here's the science,
00:32:08and the defence was saying, actually, that science is untested,
00:32:11it's not reliable.
00:32:13We were worried that actually there might be doubt
00:32:16created in the minds of the jury.
00:32:24Despite the defence's attempts to challenge the forensic evidence,
00:32:28Dr Shipman still has big questions to answer.
00:32:31The grave of widow Mrs Marie Quinn lies empty.
00:32:34It's not the first time the police have been here.
00:32:37Other graves of elderly women have been opened for the same reason.
00:32:40The bottom line is that they exhumed nine bodies
00:32:44and all of those nine bodies had morphine in them
00:32:47and it had no business being there
00:32:49and every one of those nine people had been seen by Shipman
00:32:53in the hours before she died.
00:32:55But Shipman's lies and denials could not hide the scientific truth.
00:32:59Exhumations and examinations revealed high levels of morphine
00:33:03and heroin in his victims.
00:33:06Dr Shipman attempted to provide an explanation
00:33:09when he was first arrested by police.
00:33:12So over that period of time,
00:33:15I've wondered very seriously
00:33:17whether this lady was taking drugs other than which I prescribed.
00:33:23One of the things Harold Shipman had suggested
00:33:26was the effect that Kathleen Grundy may have been a heroin user
00:33:29and that may have explained why she had died of an overdose
00:33:32and why she may have a high level of morphine.
00:33:35I've asked you to comment about that and I have commented.
00:33:38I've said that I had my suspicions
00:33:40that she was actually abusing a narcotic of some sort.
00:33:46Prosecution must now tackle Shipman's claims
00:33:49that he suspected Kathleen Grundy of abusing drugs.
00:33:53Frankly, a ludicrous explanation for a lady, I think, in her early 80s.
00:33:58I think initially we were shocked
00:34:00but I thought, this man's capable of anything.
00:34:10After the body was exhumed, Dr Shipman was to imply that Mrs Grundy,
00:34:14the lively ex-mairess of Hyde, had been a long-term heroin abuser.
00:34:20To deal with Shipman's accusation,
00:34:23prosecution turned once again to cutting-edge science.
00:34:27It was interesting that we heard evidence
00:34:30to the effect that you could take samples from people's hair
00:34:33and you could work out from that
00:34:35whether or not these people were on drugs, abusing drugs,
00:34:39which is fairly common practice these days.
00:34:42When that cropped up in the Shipman trial,
00:34:44that was the first that I'd heard of that.
00:34:46The Forensic Science Service weren't using this technique at all.
00:34:52We contacted Stephen Karsh,
00:34:55who was based in America at Stanford University.
00:34:59He specialised in deaths from drugs abuse,
00:35:03which were very useful for the jury.
00:35:06In this particular case, we're very fortunate
00:35:09because we have hair to look at.
00:35:11Hair is an indicator of the degree of drug abuse.
00:35:14I spent most of my career
00:35:17studying the toxic effects of drugs on the heart and brain.
00:35:21We know that hair can take up drugs by several routes,
00:35:25and if you take the hair and dice it in segments,
00:35:30you can determine how long the person's taken the drug.
00:35:34Now, if you test the hair and it's all morphine all the way,
00:35:39then you have a real problem on your hands
00:35:41because you know that the person's a chronic abuser.
00:35:45Have you considered the question as to whether these individuals
00:35:49may or may not have been morphine-naive?
00:35:52Yes, I think in every single case they were.
00:35:55There wasn't any morphine in the hair.
00:35:58One or two had a trace around the roots,
00:36:01which is consistent with acute exposure.
00:36:04The science does not support Dr Shipman's claims of drug abuse.
00:36:09Now the prosecution team have to rule out
00:36:12any other reason morphine is in the bodies.
00:36:17There are only really three explanations
00:36:19as to how the morphine could have got into the bodies of the deceased.
00:36:22One, administered by Dr Shipman, as the prosecution said.
00:36:25Two, administered by the victim herself as a result of drug abuse.
00:36:29Or three, the presence of morphine in an over-the-counter
00:36:32or some other kind of medicine,
00:36:34which may have led to the same toxicology results.
00:36:38The question of whether the women may have consumed morphine from medicine
00:36:43is put to the toxicologist.
00:36:49Is morphine present in some proprietary medicines?
00:36:53Yes, things like heroin and morphine
00:36:56is one that people will recognise, I think.
00:36:59And is that an over-the-counter medicine? Yes.
00:37:02They knew that the defence would probably make this point
00:37:05that it could have been over-the-counter medicines.
00:37:08And that's why, before they even had a chance to say that,
00:37:11in their case, the prosecution called witnesses who talked about
00:37:15could that have been responsible for the traces of morphine
00:37:18found in Kathleen Grundy's body?
00:37:20And so, please, to obtain the levels present
00:37:23in the tissue and organs of Mrs Grundy,
00:37:26what sort of quantity of ingestion of chaoline and morphine would be required?
00:37:32You would be looking at...
00:37:35..the order of around a litre of chaoline and morphine.
00:37:40What the prosecution undoubtedly were looking to do
00:37:43in respect of the over-the-counter medicine
00:37:45was to completely rebut that from the outset
00:37:48by making it ridiculous that anyone could possibly have
00:37:51accidentally consumed that much over-the-counter medicine
00:37:54that it would count for a morphine reading at a level
00:37:57that would lead to fatal toxicity.
00:38:00If the women have not consumed morphine themselves,
00:38:03the prosecution must prove Shipman is responsible for administering it.
00:38:18Referring to all 15 murder charges, the Crown said it would show
00:38:22that Dr Shipman did have ready access to drugs like morphine.
00:38:25Prosecution called family members of terminally ill patients
00:38:29who Shipman visited in the hours after they passed away.
00:38:34What did he do when he came into the dining room?
00:38:36Well, after we'd talked, he turned around and he took the boxes.
00:38:40I think there were two or three boxes of dimorphine still on the sideboard.
00:38:45To the relatives of people who died,
00:38:47the GP coming and taking away the excess drugs, the control drug,
00:38:51didn't seem out of place at all.
00:38:55HE CLICKS HIS TONGUE
00:39:00He'd used dimorphine belonging to terminally ill patients.
00:39:05It was like a second cruelty, if you like.
00:39:08Bereaved families going through a harrowing experience,
00:39:12not once but twice, cos they're having to relive it in court.
00:39:16Can you remember that, in fact, prior to him leaving the house,
00:39:19he broke up or destroyed the drugs that he took from your dining room?
00:39:22No, he didn't do that.
00:39:24You don't remember that? No, he didn't do that, no.
00:39:28It's quite clear that the defence are trying to rely on
00:39:31lack of memory and the passage of time,
00:39:33and that is a genuinely last resort form of cross-examination.
00:39:37If you have something stronger to go on,
00:39:39where you can directly undermine the truthfulness
00:39:42and accuracy of the witness, then you'll put it.
00:39:45Can you actually remember what it was he said?
00:39:48Answer, no.
00:39:50Question, or is that now really vague in your memory?
00:39:53Answer, that particular sentence is yes, as to the exact words.
00:39:58I remember listening and thinking,
00:40:00this is making his already terrible crimes even worse.
00:40:05The fact that he could treat other patients badly
00:40:08in a completely different way.
00:40:12Prosecution now present evidence of a shocking discovery
00:40:16made by police at Shipman's home.
00:40:21When Shipman was arrested, they searched his house,
00:40:24they found a quantity of diamorphine at his home.
00:40:28The jury on finding out that we had recovered all this morphine
00:40:32from his home and that he was keeping it there were visibly shocked.
00:40:36It's difficult, if not impossible,
00:40:38to think as to why any medical professional,
00:40:41knowing all of the rules that exist around controlled drugs like morphine,
00:40:46would have that drug in their home
00:40:48rather than securely locked away in a proper location
00:40:51with proper paperwork to cover it.
00:40:53And really there was no proper and sensible explanation
00:40:56that held water on behalf of the defence.
00:40:59It's obviously a moment where you think,
00:41:01they've got it, they understand it, it's had an impact.
00:41:05Seven weeks into the trial,
00:41:07with testimony from over 150 witnesses,
00:41:10the prosecution's case is over.
00:41:16Now Shipman's defence case begins.
00:41:20The prosecution has to build a solid wall of evidence
00:41:24that the jury just can't find any flaws in
00:41:27and then be sure that guilt has been proved to that very high standard.
00:41:31The defence just has to show, perhaps, that there's a few bricks missing
00:41:34and therefore you can't be sure that this is really the solid wall
00:41:38that the prosecution say it is.
00:41:40The key decision for the defence team
00:41:42The key decision for the defence team
00:41:44is whether Dr Shipman will give evidence.
00:41:47I remember we all were wondering whether or not he would take the stand
00:41:51and you could see it going either way.
00:41:54That decision is the most critical decision to make in any criminal defence
00:41:59and the golden rule is very straightforward.
00:42:02Will the defendant giving evidence make the defence stronger or weaker?
00:42:08Clearly questions asked in cross-examination are going to cause him problems
00:42:13so if you're not able to give an explanation for anything,
00:42:16you certainly aren't being convincing, are you?
00:42:19That's the problem he faced.
00:42:22Dr Shipman was brought to court this morning
00:42:25to find a packed and silent courtroom
00:42:28sitting in the public gallery, Angela Woodruff and her husband.
00:42:31I thought that Shipman was going to have trouble because of his character,
00:42:36because he basically liked to regard himself as superior
00:42:41and if he was presented with hard facts,
00:42:45it was hard to imagine how he was going to respond.
00:42:49I would have been deeply concerned about Dr Shipman giving evidence
00:42:53and I am sure I would have expressed that concern to him.
00:42:56I think he kind of wanted to talk.
00:42:59He's got that kind of personality,
00:43:02he just wants to say, you're all wrong and I'm right.
00:43:07There was huge excitement on the press bench
00:43:10that we were finally, after all these months, going to hear from Shipman.
00:43:17It's a really vital part of the case because it's the first time in the whole trial
00:43:21that the jury has heard the defendant speak.
00:43:24What is your full name, please?
00:43:26Full name is Harold Frederick Shipman.
00:43:29They hear the defendant speak, they look him in the eyes,
00:43:33that's where the most important impression is made,
00:43:36at the beginning of a witness's evidence.
00:43:39Shipman's defence barrister, Nicola Davis,
00:43:42takes him through his version of events.
00:43:44What memory do you have of your manner on that evening
00:43:47when you were speaking with Mrs Mellor's family?
00:43:49I thought I was considerate,
00:43:51I thought I gave them plenty of time to ask questions.
00:43:54At this stage, it's quite easy, isn't it?
00:43:57He's being led through the evidence by the defence.
00:44:00They'd gone through it, obviously, before with him.
00:44:03They were extremely upset and I was glad I'd made the decision to go back
00:44:07and not have them come into the surgery the next day
00:44:10because of the distress they were in.
00:44:12He tried to build up a picture of a caring doctor
00:44:16who worked really hard, extra hours, calling on patients.
00:44:20Because he cared, he was old school.
00:44:22When we were in court, that's how it felt,
00:44:24was this is a plausible explanation.
00:44:26It's not a great one,
00:44:28but is it enough to put doubt into the minds of the jury?
00:44:31Was that the sole reason you'd gone back to house that evening?
00:44:34Yes, to talk to the family,
00:44:36to tell them that she'd died of a heart attack.
00:44:38You'd have reasons for all the potential issues
00:44:42that had been raised in the prosecution case
00:44:44and it was just a matter for the defence of going through them.
00:44:48I think he went into that trial thinking that everybody would believe him
00:44:52because he was a doctor, because he was so highly regarded.
00:44:56Dr Shipman told the court that he considered himself to be a proactive GP,
00:45:01priding himself on preventing illnesses
00:45:03before his patients came complaining that they felt unwell.
00:45:06It's when you're being cross-examined about discrepancies
00:45:09that you face a problem.
00:45:11Once the defendant is in the witness box and is giving evidence,
00:45:14the defence just has to do its best to get the evidence out
00:45:18as clearly and as persuasively as possible
00:45:21and then sit back and wait for the fireworks.
00:45:26Now it's time for Dr Shipman to face the scrutiny of the prosecution.
00:45:31Well, we had strong points that I knew he would find great difficulty
00:45:36in answering in cross-examination,
00:45:39so we were hoping that that would guarantee the case in our favour
00:45:44when he wouldn't be able to deal with them.
00:45:47So this is as the prosecution barrister stands up
00:45:50to cross-examine Dr Shipman, the very first day.
00:45:53Question. Dr Shipman.
00:45:55The evidence is that on 1 August 1998...
00:45:58Yes.
00:45:59I really don't feel very well, my Lord.
00:46:01Very well, Dr Shipman.
00:46:03You may leave the dock area immediately and go below.
00:46:11He didn't feel very well.
00:46:14He didn't feel very well and asked to be excused,
00:46:18at which point, I think, the prosecution team fell into a panic
00:46:22as to what would happen, whether he'd ever actually re-emerge
00:46:27and what effect that would have on the trial.
00:46:31If a defendant feels unwell or ill,
00:46:34the time for that to happen, ideally,
00:46:37is not right at the beginning of cross-examination
00:46:40when it may appear to be an attempt to avoid answering the questions
00:46:44or, equally, it may appear to be an attempt to gather sympathy from the jury
00:46:49and distract attention in some other way from the core of the case,
00:46:52particularly if he'd not expressed any ill health
00:46:55throughout the questioning by his own barrister.
00:46:57If suddenly he's ill as a result of questioning by the prosecutor,
00:47:00I mean, none of that is a good first impression to make
00:47:03at the beginning of cross-examination.
00:47:05I think it was a state of shock and concern
00:47:08as far as the prosecution team were concerned.
00:47:11I mean, would he ever re-emerge?
00:47:14It is proving a difficult time for the family GP,
00:47:16who is himself receiving medical treatment for an unknown condition.
00:47:21Dr Shipman's sudden departure from the courtroom
00:47:24causes confusion amongst the prosecution team.
00:47:29But their concerns are short-lived.
00:47:32The fact that he came back up after 20 minutes
00:47:35was a sense of great relief, I think,
00:47:37because there's about six days of cross-examination in all.
00:47:44This is the prosecuting barrister asking Dr Shipman
00:47:47about Kathleen Grundy's medical records.
00:47:49Let us look, then, at the next computer entry.
00:47:52Daughter agree, old age has cause, question mark.
00:47:55The next two words, silent coronary thrombosis.
00:47:59Question, the next two words, silent coronary thrombosis.
00:48:04What do you mean by silent coronary thrombosis?
00:48:07Without a long definition, please.
00:48:09Those three words are self-explanatory.
00:48:13In cross-examination, he was quite testy.
00:48:16He didn't like being asked the questions.
00:48:18I suspect he didn't think he should have to answer the questions.
00:48:21He didn't like being challenged.
00:48:23And, of course, part of a cross-examination is about challenging.
00:48:26You were there raising the possibility of a coronary thrombosis, weren't you?
00:48:30It went through my head.
00:48:32Shipman would like to spar with the prosecuting counsel.
00:48:36You could tell he was thinking, I will show this guy.
00:48:39If it went through your head, sufficient to note it on the record details,
00:48:43why, then, was there no post-mortem examination?
00:48:46Because it was a thought.
00:48:48Shipman thought that he would be locking horns
00:48:51with one of the very few people, in his opinion,
00:48:54worthy of his intellectual level.
00:48:57But it was no contest.
00:49:03BANG
00:49:10Shipman's defence team had already contested
00:49:13that the women died of morphine poisoning.
00:49:16Now Shipman says something that takes everybody by surprise.
00:49:20Do you stand by your cause of death, Mrs Grundy's case,
00:49:23as having been old age?
00:49:25Having heard the toxicologist,
00:49:27I will have to amend my diagnosis of the cause of death.
00:49:31So if you could rewrite the cause of death certificate,
00:49:34you would say toxicity poisoning?
00:49:36I'd have to agree with that.
00:49:39So far as the prosecution were concerned,
00:49:42when he accepted the evidence of the toxicologist
00:49:45in the terms of the finding of morphine,
00:49:47that was quite critical, I think,
00:49:49because the defence then has to sort of reappraise
00:49:52how they were going to continue with their case.
00:49:56I was quite surprised,
00:49:58and of course he can accept the toxicology evidence
00:50:02but still question how the drug was administered,
00:50:05which is what he did.
00:50:07Dr Shipman read from Kathleen Grundy's notes.
00:50:09In them, he'd written,
00:50:11I thought she was abusing codeine, pepidine or morphine.
00:50:14Asked if he'd administered morphine to Mrs Grundy,
00:50:17he replied, I did not.
00:50:19This woman could not have been more respectable,
00:50:22and yet Shipman was trying to persuade people
00:50:25that she was some sort of drug addict.
00:50:27Unusual fact that you suspect an 81-year-old of taking drugs.
00:50:31I can't remember anybody of that age taking drugs before,
00:50:35but I'm sure Dr Grenville reads the same magazines as me,
00:50:39and it is now appearing on the scene.
00:50:41I thought the explanation was crazy in the first place,
00:50:45and by putting it in these terms, it sort of highlighted it, I think.
00:50:49What you did see was a lot of reaction around the courtroom
00:50:52in terms of shaking of heads, the occasional tutting,
00:50:55the general ripple of kind of disaffection is the best way of describing it.
00:50:59If Mrs Grundy did not administer any morphine or diamorphine to herself,
00:51:04then someone else, prior to midday on 24th June,
00:51:07must have administered it to her.
00:51:10If she did not administer it to herself,
00:51:13then the second part of your statement bears truth.
00:51:16There's always a difficulty when a defendant accepts the basic premise
00:51:22that the victim must have died of morphine overdose,
00:51:26and it was particularly apparent when Shipman was being cross-examined
00:51:29about the death of a patient in his surgery.
00:51:35You say to us here and now that you were continuously in her presence
00:51:39up to the moment that she collapsed and died.
00:51:42Allowing for the time taken for resuscitation, yes.
00:51:46How then did Ivy Lomas get the diamorphine into her system?
00:51:50I have no knowledge.
00:51:52I think this is the point when Dr Shipman realised
00:51:57that he was in an impossible situation.
00:52:01Dr Shipman, there is simply no sensible explanation, is there?
00:52:06Is that a statement or is that a question?
00:52:09You know perfectly well that's a question, Dr Shipman.
00:52:12There is no sensible explanation, is there?
00:52:15I don't know of any explanation.
00:52:18She sort of went further and further into the trap
00:52:21because he was there all the time with her in that period of time
00:52:25and he confirmed she died while she was in the surgery.
00:52:28It was an impossible position to get himself out of.
00:52:32From my memory, he placed a finger across Chinnaseth, that's it.
00:52:38And I think the Defence Council attempted to stand up
00:52:42and he sort of waved her down.
00:52:44I mean, that was the moment of truth.
00:52:46So far as he was concerned in his own mind.
00:52:50Shipman consistently undermined his own case
00:52:53when there was no realistic explanation
00:52:56and no credible explanation as to how that morphine
00:52:59could have got into the system of those victims
00:53:02other than via at his hand,
00:53:04meant that he, in effect, whilst not saying it explicitly,
00:53:08was acknowledging his own guilt.
00:53:12After two weeks in the witness box,
00:53:14Dr Shipman's evidence comes to a close.
00:53:23The defence team now decide whether to call their own expert witnesses.
00:53:30The defence is making a calculation.
00:53:32If we call this witness, whether it's an expert witness
00:53:35or a witness of fact, are we going to make the case better or worse?
00:53:39They called one expert witness and that was it.
00:53:43Nobody else. Nobody to talk about the diamorphine.
00:53:46Nobody to talk about the circumstances
00:53:49in which these 15 women had been killed.
00:53:52No rebuttal of any sort to all of that detailed evidence
00:53:56we'd heard in the prosecution case.
00:53:58Just one mention about a fingerprint on a forged will and that was it.
00:54:04It has taken nine weeks to hear all the evidence.
00:54:08Finally, both legal teams get to sum up their cases.
00:54:14So this is the closing speech from the prosecution.
00:54:17Ladies and gentlemen,
00:54:19the 15 ladies whose names appear as victims in this indictment...
00:54:23They had all chosen, or at least accepted,
00:54:25Dr Shipman as their doctor.
00:54:27In doing so, they entrusted their health,
00:54:30indeed, they entrusted their lives to him.
00:54:33They trusted him to care for them.
00:54:36We submit that he has breached that trust.
00:54:40He did not care at all for those 15 patients.
00:54:43He killed them.
00:54:45The defendant, speaking before the exhumation of any single body,
00:54:49spoke very candidly indeed.
00:54:51I read thriller books and I would have me guilty on the evidence.
00:54:57Members of the jury, it is on the evidence that we submit
00:55:02he is guilty on each and every count of this indictment.
00:55:08The Crown alleges that only Harold Shipman
00:55:11had the opportunity and expertise to kill these women.
00:55:14And if the jury had any doubts, they should ask themselves
00:55:17whether some other killer might be on the loose in Hyde,
00:55:20seeking out Dr Shipman's patients.
00:55:26Defence Council summed up the case for Harold Shipman
00:55:29in a powerful and punchy closing speech,
00:55:33which was brought together all of the best points
00:55:36the defence could possibly muster,
00:55:38and she summarised the case in this way.
00:55:41Before the court is a doctor faced with 15 counts of murder
00:55:44and one of forgery.
00:55:46In respect of those 15 counts of murder,
00:55:49they are wholly reliant on the base finding of toxicology.
00:55:53And in the context of this case,
00:55:55that toxicology is based on scientific evidence.
00:55:58It is our submission to you that the scientific evidence,
00:56:02as it presently exists, is unsafe and unreliable.
00:56:05What the defence are saying is
00:56:07the prosecution has built this house of cards,
00:56:10but if you take one card, the toxicology, from the bottom,
00:56:14the whole thing must collapse,
00:56:16because without it, the structure is unsound.
00:56:20With them fails the entirety of the prosecution case.
00:56:24They weren't going to win because the jury believed Shipman
00:56:27was, in effect, the best and only line of defence that was available.
00:56:33I felt confident that the case was as strong as it could possibly be,
00:56:37and I felt confident that he had not helped his case by getting evidence,
00:56:42but I still couldn't predict the result of the jury.
00:56:47The judge reminded the jury
00:56:49that the circumstances relating to the 15 charges
00:56:52were different in every case,
00:56:54and that they should treat them individually,
00:56:56even if that meant that they cleared the doctor of some of the allegations
00:57:00while finding him guilty of others.
00:57:04When the jury went out, the atmosphere was feverish amongst the media.
00:57:08As far as the relatives, it was, you know,
00:57:13As far as the relatives, it was a difficult time for them, really.
00:57:17There was almost a relief that the case was over as such,
00:57:20but then it was a waiting game, and the waiting is the hardest.
00:57:24My most important lesson from over 30 years of criminal practice
00:57:29is that you absolutely never know what an English jury is going to do.
00:57:34Anything is possible in any case.
00:57:38There are moments of great tension.
00:57:41You know, in this case, we waited six days
00:57:43while the jury were considering their verdicts.
00:57:46Inevitably, as the time went on,
00:57:49we began to think, could something strange be happening here?
00:57:53If they're considering for this long, maybe they're not sure.
00:57:56There was that doubt began to creep in.
00:58:08The jury was told that it was inevitable in such a serious case
00:58:12that they would feel a whole range of emotions,
00:58:15from profound dismay to deep sympathy.
00:58:18But they must put all these aside and concentrate solely on the evidence.
00:58:26They still hadn't come to a decision by quarter past four,
00:58:29so the judge sent them home, saying they should try to relax
00:58:32before resuming their deliberations tomorrow.
00:58:35The jury retired on the 24th of January, that's a Monday.
00:58:40At 4.15pm each day,
00:58:43Mr Justice Forbes called them in and discharged them,
00:58:47told them not to discuss the case and return again the following morning.
00:58:52And that went on for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
00:58:58So they reconvened again on Monday,
00:59:02so they reconvened again on the 31st.
00:59:07We were actually just packing up to go home at the end of the day.
00:59:11It was about 4.15pm, we thought there was not going to be a result.
00:59:15Everyone was very relaxed.
00:59:17Came back in, we thought, well, the jury haven't made a decision,
00:59:21we're all going to go just to have dinner and come back tomorrow.
00:59:25And on that second Monday, there was suddenly a sort of frantic
00:59:29about a movement about the court staff.
00:59:31Pow, everything changed.
00:59:33The clerk of the court.
00:59:35Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict upon which you all agree?
00:59:40Yes.
00:59:41There is nothing in my experience which is as dramatic
00:59:45as the final moments of a murder trial.
00:59:48Members of the jury, upon count one, do you find this defendant guilty?
00:59:53Well, not guilty of murder. Guilty.
00:59:56Guilty.
00:59:58So that just flipped everything, the energy was pow, pow, pow, oh, my God.
01:00:03I was physically shaking.
01:00:05Members of the jury, upon count two,
01:00:08do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty of forgery?
01:00:12I was so on edge to hear the answer, I want to hear the right answer.
01:00:16Guilty or not guilty. Guilty.
01:00:20Upon count three, do you find this defendant guilty or not guilty of murder?
01:00:25Guilty.
01:00:27Each time you'd hear a little gasp
01:00:30and gentle sobbing from the family concerned.
01:00:34The relief, you could feel the relief and then cry.
01:00:38Guilty.
01:00:39Almost as though a weight had been lifted.
01:00:42Guilty.
01:00:43Which was awful to hear, but at the same time he knew it was people,
01:00:46he felt like they'd had some sort of justice delivered.
01:00:49Upon count 15.
01:00:52Guilty.
01:00:54The sentencing was incredibly moving,
01:00:57largely because of Mr Justice Forbes himself.
01:01:00He said at one point,
01:01:02I've no doubt your victims smiled and thanked you
01:01:06as they submitted themselves to your deadly ministrations.
01:01:10And as he said that, there was a tremor in his voice.
01:01:14The emotion of that moment had got through to Mr Justice Forbes himself.
01:01:21At the end of sentencing, the judge actually made some comments
01:01:25to the relatives that were in the courtroom.
01:01:28I would like you to know how much I admired the courage and the quiet dignity
01:01:32with which each of you gave your evidence in this case.
01:01:36Your evidence was, at times, intensely moving
01:01:40and it touched the hearts of all who heard it.
01:01:44In my view, your evidence...
01:01:46Your service to the cause of justice and the outcome of this trial
01:01:50will stand as a lasting tribute and a memorial to each of your loved ones.
01:02:05It's quite hard for me to read that.
01:02:08Harold Frederick Shipman,
01:02:10you should know that I have come to the firm conclusion
01:02:15that the crimes with which you now stand convicted
01:02:19are so heinous that, in your case,
01:02:23life must mean life.
01:02:27My recommendation will be that you
01:02:31should spend the remainder of your days in prison.
01:02:36Take him down.
01:02:40Relatives of Harold Shipman's victims left court tonight
01:02:43knowing that one of the most dangerous men seen in Britain
01:02:46during the last century had been permanently removed from society.
01:02:50Sadly, nothing that's happened here, nor can happen in the future,
01:02:54can bring about my mum and all the other victims.
01:02:57We hope we can now have the space and the time to remember my mum
01:03:01as she was a happy, active, caring, energetic, loving person
01:03:07whom we miss so much.
01:03:11Shipman begins a whole-life sentence in Franklin Prison.
01:03:15Shipman joins the names Brady and Hindley
01:03:18in Hyde's unenviable list of former residents.
01:03:21But there's a mix of bewilderment and stiff upper lip here.
01:03:24What could any one patient do, even if they had suspicions?
01:03:27Surely the authorities, someone should have known.
01:03:31I think the biggest legacy of the trial
01:03:34was that people no longer had that blind trust in their GP,
01:03:39nor in any medical professional.
01:03:42They obviously manipulated the system fundamentally based on trust.
01:03:45The bodies meant to protect the public, like the General Medical Council,
01:03:49were deeply flawed.
01:03:51It really had shaken that belief
01:03:54that your doctor would always do the very best for you.
01:03:57It has taken more than a year for the evidence to be gathered
01:04:01and months for the findings to be produced.
01:04:03But Dame Janet Smith's first report from the Shipman inquiry
01:04:06has reached a shocking conclusion.
01:04:08It appears that Shipman began to kill patients
01:04:11very shortly after leaving medical school.
01:04:15She came out with a whole stack of recommendations
01:04:18as to how the deaths within the community should be reported.
01:04:23I estimate that, in all,
01:04:26Shipman probably killed about 250 patients.
01:04:32I don't think Hyde will ever get over it.
01:04:35It had enormous impact on the town.
01:04:38It left an indelible mark.
01:04:43But there was one thing that many families wanted above all.
01:04:47Closure.
01:04:50Victims' relatives greeted the news of Shipman's death
01:04:53first with disbelief, then with anger.
01:04:56There was just that little chance that maybe he would show some remorse
01:04:59and have some consideration for the families
01:05:01and explain to us why he did what he did.
01:05:03That chance has been taken away from us now.
01:05:05Four years after the trial,
01:05:07Dr Shipman was found dead in his prison cell.
01:05:11I mean, when Angela learned about the suicide, she was very distressed.
01:05:16I think she must have still hoped that he was going to explain
01:05:21why he'd done it, but, I mean, I had no hope of that at all.
01:05:26But, quite honestly, if he'd told us, I wouldn't have believed it.
01:05:33She died six years ago.
01:05:35She died from Alzheimer's disease,
01:05:38which I am inclined to think that the trauma of the Shipman business
01:05:45contributed to that situation.
01:05:50It was an enormous story, and I look back on it with a mixture of horror,
01:05:56I suppose, but a certain amount of professional pride
01:05:59that we got it covered and told the story.
01:06:02So far as I'm concerned, it's my greatest achievement in prosecuting.
01:06:07Oh, he did the Shipman case.
01:06:11It achieved justice.
01:06:13Not only achieved it, but it showed justice to be done.
01:06:17Yeah.
01:06:47The Shipman Case