4. Harold Shipman
Harold Shipman stands as the only British doctor in history that has been found guilty of murdering his patients. Many say he is the most widely known prolific serial killer in history. He has been convicted of killing 218 people, but the real number might be double that, since some of the victims could not be identified. In 1974 he became a general practitioner in West Yorkshire, and a year later was found forging prescriptions for pethidine for personal use. He was fined but was able to continue to work. Over time, many of his patients died, mostly due to an injection of diamorphine. Many were concerned about the ever-growing number of cremation forms Shipman was countersigning. He was also charged with forging a patient’s will. Though set to serve a lifetime sentence after being convicted of 15 murders in January 2000, Shipman was put into jail for four years, but on January 13, 2004 hanged himself in his prison cell.
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