"The Ultimate Betrayer of Trust": The ITV Nightly News on the Conviction of Harold Shipman, January 31, 2000

Name: "The Ultimate Betrayer of Trust": The ITV Nightly News on the Conviction of Harold Shipman, January 31, 2000
Uploaded: 2011-03-05T00:00:00Z
Duration: 13 min 58 s
Description: ITN's main ITV bulletin on the night Shipman was convicted of murdering 15 patients, with reports from Preston Crown Court, Todmorden and Hyde, and brief audio of Shipman denying the murder of Kathleen Grundy under police questioning.

ITN's main ITV bulletin on the night Shipman was convicted of murdering 15 patients, with reports from Preston Crown Court, Todmorden and Hyde, and brief audio of Shipman denying the murder of Kathleen Grundy under police questioning.

Subject: Dr. Harold Frederick Shipman
Recorded: January 31, 2000
Runtime: 13:58

Content warning: Concerns the murders of elderly women patients by their family doctor; no graphic detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Harold Shipman. It is a 13-minute-58-second off-air recording of the ITV Nightly News, produced by ITN, broadcast on Monday, January 31, 2000, the day Shipman was convicted, and uploaded to YouTube in 2011 by a private individual. Almost the whole bulletin is about the case. Shipman is heard for about 11 seconds, in two short extracts of his 1998 police interview audio used in Colin Baker's report.

Historical Context

Harold Shipman was a family doctor in Hyde, Greater Manchester, from 1977. In 1998 he was arrested after Angela Woodruff, the daughter of his patient Kathleen Grundy, became suspicious of a will that left Grundy's estate to him. He was tried at Preston Crown Court from October 1999, and on January 31, 2000, the jury convicted him of murdering 15 women patients with lethal doses of diamorphine and of forging the will. Mr Justice Forbes sentenced him to life imprisonment on each count with a recommendation that he never be released. The later Shipman Inquiry, chaired by Dame Janet Smith, concluded that he had killed about 250 patients. He hanged himself in HM Prison Wakefield on January 13, 2004.

Circumstances

The bulletin went out hours after the verdicts. It reflects what was known that night, including the Crown Prosecution Service's statement that it was considering further allegations and the reporters' references to "possibly hundreds" of deaths, which the later inquiry largely confirmed. The government announced an inquiry the next day.

What the Interview Covers

Presenter Dermot Murnaghan introduces the verdicts. Juliet Bremner reports from Preston Crown Court on the jury's return, the judge's words, statements by two relatives (one calls for reform of death certification, single-handed practice and the handling of controlled drugs), a senior detective, a CPS statement on further allegations, and a statement for Primrose Shipman. Colin Baker traces Shipman's career from Todmorden, where he was hooked on the painkiller pethidine, through his conviction for forgery and deception involving drugs, to Hyde and the forged Grundy will. In the interview extracts, a detective suggests he injected Mrs. Grundy with a fatal overdose of morphine; Shipman answers "No," and later says, "I have said that I had my suspicions that she was actually abusing a narcotic of some sort." A friend of victim Jean Lilley says she "trusted him with her life." Lawrence McGinty reports on the lack of checks on single-handed GPs, the local doctors who first raised concerns, the Health Authority and the General Medical Council, and a government minister's promise of a statement to the House of Commons. The bulletin ends with a live report from Hyde.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is the main ITV evening bulletin from the day Britain's most prolific convicted serial killer was found guilty, and it includes a few seconds of Shipman's own voice under police questioning, denying the Grundy murder and casting his victim as a drug abuser.

Archival Importance

An off-air copy of national coverage from the day of the verdicts.

Important Caveats

Shipman's words are limited to about 11 seconds of police interview audio; the voice is identified from the report's context, and a listener should confirm it. His claim that Mrs. Grundy was abusing narcotics was a lie; the jury convicted him of her murder. The report's figures are as broadcast that night: "possibly hundreds" and "136 deaths" reflect the investigation at the time (the Shipman Inquiry later put the total at about 250). The report says he was convicted "in 1976" on "83 charges" of forgery and deception; Wikipedia says he was caught forging pethidine prescriptions in 1975 and fined 600 pounds and does not give the number of charges, so page copy should not restate the report's date or number as fact. The two relatives, the senior detective, the Hyde GP and the officials are not named in the audio; the minister is probably Health Secretary Alan Milburn but is not named. The upload is an off-air copy, not ITN's own.

Announcer: From ITN, the ITV Nightly News, with Dermot Murnaghan.

Dermot Murnaghan: Good evening. The Manchester GP Harold Shipman is tonight starting 15 life sentences for murder, making him Britain's worst serial killer of modern times. The jury at Preston found him guilty on all 15 charges of killing women patients, and on one charge of forging a will. Sentencing him, Mr Justice Forbes said Shipman had murdered each and every one of his victims by "calculated and cold-blooded perversion of his medical skills." Immediately afterwards, the Crown Prosecution Service revealed that he may have murdered many more of his patients, possibly hundreds. Juliet Bremner reports.

Juliet Bremner: He is now Britain's most prolific mass murderer of the past century. Harold Frederick Shipman was driven away tonight to start the rest of his life behind bars. At the end of this marathon trial, the prosecuting barrister emerged, knowing he played a leading role in one of the most notorious cases in modern times. The 54-year-old GP betrayed the trust placed in him as a family doctor, abusing the faith of patients by injecting 15 women with lethal doses of morphine. His victims ranged in age from 49 to 81. Most were fit and well; none had life-threatening illnesses when Shipman decided to murder them.

Juliet Bremner: The five women and seven men on the jury filed back into a hushed court, ending six days of tension and suspense. As the foreman answered "guilty" to each of the charges, Shipman stared straight ahead, showing no emotion. From his wife, Primrose, there was a small gasp of "Oh, no," as she clasped the hands of her son and a family friend. The judge told Shipman that his crimes were wicked beyond belief, because they involved using his medical skills to kill in cold blood. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Forbes said, "For your own evil and wicked purpose, you took advantage of and grossly abused the trust each of your victims placed in you. You were, after all, each victim's doctor." With those words ringing in his ears, Harold Shipman was led down to the cells.

Juliet Bremner: Mr Justice Forbes then turned to the relatives, many of whom were weeping with relief. He said, "This has been a painful and harrowing ordeal, which has forced you to relive the shock and sorrow of your loss." He went on to praise the courage and quiet dignity they had shown throughout this long and arduous trial.

Unidentified Voice: [unclear: "Thank you." (captions only; not in Whisper)]

Juliet Bremner: The relatives have sat through much of the four months of evidence, and the past week has been particularly trying. They found it difficult to hold their emotions in check.

Relative: If confidence in general practitioners is to be maintained, it's important that the appropriate authorities look to see what lessons can be learned from this case. In particular, we hope that they will consider the procedure on certification of death, and whether it should always involve a second doctor who's inspected the medical records; whether doctors should be allowed to be sole practitioners; and the way dangerous drugs are prescribed, held and disposed of by doctors. Sadly, nothing that's happened here, nor can happen in the future, can [unclear: "be it by" / "brak by"; possibly "bring back"] my mum and all the other victims. We hope we can now have the space and the time to remember my mum as she was: a happy, active, caring, energetic, loving person, whom we miss so much.

Juliet Bremner: Although there was relief, families fear that the full extent of Shipman's crimes hasn't yet been exposed.

Relative: The result is the right result. It was the only result that could possibly have been. My mother trusted Dr. Shipman. He cynically and callously betrayed that trust. Subsequently, it would appear that there are other matters we must look into. Our hearts and our sympathies go out with all the other families that are involved in this and probably have not yet received their justice.

Juliet Bremner: The judge commended the detectives who'd untangled Shipman's complex web of lies and ensured the families received justice.

Senior Detective: I hope that today's result will help them come to terms with their loss and the circumstances surrounding the death of their loved one.

Juliet Bremner: But it emerged tonight that the suffering may not yet be over. It's feared that Harold Shipman may be guilty of hundreds of murders. Some investigations are still continuing.

Cps Spokesperson: The Crown Prosecution Service has been considering files sent to us by the police on a number of further allegations of murder against Harold Shipman. No decision can be taken as to whether it is in the public interest to pursue these allegations further until the views of the families concerned have been sought.

Juliet Bremner: There was no sign of Primrose, the loyal wife of a mass murderer, but her son and solicitor asked for understanding.

Family Solicitor: Mrs. Shipman is devastated by the verdict that has been reached today. The last 18 months have been an ordeal for her and her family. I would ask you now, please, on behalf of Mrs. Shipman and her family, to respect their privacy at this time, as they try to come to terms with what has happened and to make plans for the future.

Juliet Bremner: But as he was driven into Strangeways, the question of why a quiet, attentive doctor became addicted to killing remains unanswered. Juliet Bremner, ITN, Preston Crown Court.

Dermot Murnaghan: So just how did Harold Shipman manage to commit such terrible crimes repeatedly over such a long period of time, and how did they eventually come to light? ITN's Colin Baker has spent weeks unraveling the full story.

Colin Baker: He was the ultimate betrayer of trust: the 54-year-old family doctor whose lust for power turned the healer into the serial killer. Cowering behind a prison officer at an earlier hearing, Dr. Harold Frederick Shipman, the small-town GP who preyed on old ladies. His trial's now over, but not one of the world's biggest murder investigations; its primary questions still unanswered. Just how many patients in the town of Hyde has this doctor killed? Shipman came to Hyde 22 years ago, and while the police have looked at 136 deaths, they believe the doctor has killed hundreds of patients. Senior detectives admit that to go back over the years, evidence and resources would be equally hard to find. Only Shipman knows when he began killing, and just how many, but they are secrets he's taken with him to the cells.

Senior Detective: I believe he was a man who thought that he could get away with murder. He utilized his position in society, and the way people sort of thought about it, to commit these murders. And he obviously thought that people would believe what he told them because of the fact he was a doctor, and no one would question him.

Colin Baker: Surely they would have questioned him had they been told the truth about this doctor, for Shipman was a drug addict with a criminal record. Shipman's addiction began here, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, in 1974, his first post in general practice, and here there are disturbing parallels with what was to happen in Hyde more than two decades later. From this group practice in Todmorden, Shipman secretly rewrote patients' records. He prescribed drugs for them which he never administered to them. He used the drugs himself. He was hooked on pethidine, and deceived his patients and partners to get it. In 1975, he was reported to the General Medical Council in London. And what did they do? They refused to strike him off. They said he wasn't a risk to patients. So in 1976, he was convicted on 83 charges of forgery and deception involving drugs, and with the blessing of his professional bodies, continued as a doctor, the following year arriving in Hyde.

Detective: I suggest to you that you have injected Mrs. Grundy with a fatal overdose of morphine, [unclear: "that grows far to death" / "of grar to death"; possibly "that caused her death"].

Harold Shipman: No.

Colin Baker: Arrogant with his interrogators, it was a mixture of this superiority and greed, and the belief that he could indeed had got away with murder, that brought about Shipman's downfall. He killed Kathleen Grundy, his last victim, in June 1998. She was an energetic and lively 81-year-old. She was also wealthy. Shipman forged her will, leaving her entire estate of almost 400,000 pounds to himself. He then went to Mrs. Grundy's home, and on the pretext of taking a blood sample, gave her a massive dose of morphine. To avoid a postmortem, he declared that this active, articulate charity worker had suddenly died of old age. And when arrested, he suggested to police that octogenarian Mrs. Grundy was a drug addict.

Detective: I'm giving you the cause of [unclear: "that" (both sources); possibly "death"]: fatal overdose of morphine or diamorphine. [unclear: "They asked you to comment about that." (captions) / "The lashes are comments about that." (Whisper)]

Harold Shipman: And I have commented. I have said that I had my suspicions that she was actually abusing a narcotic of some sort, or at least taking a narcotic of some sort.

Colin Baker: But Shipman's lies and denials could not hide the scientific truth. Exhumations and examinations revealed high levels of morphine and heroin in his victims. Scrupulous detective work revealed other common aspects. All victims had been seen by Shipman just before they were found dead. Jean Lilley was found dead by her best friend minutes after Dr. Shipman left her.

Friend Of Jean Lilley: She loved him. She trusted his every word, like anybody would with a GP. You have to trust somebody, and if you can't trust your doctor, who are you supposed to trust? And she trusted him with her life.

Colin Baker: Shipman knows all, but he has no hope now. He has no conscience. He has his secrets. That's all he has left. Colin Baker, ITN, Preston.

Dermot Murnaghan: So what are the lessons to be learned from the Shipman case? Do procedures need tightening up so that doctors are watched more closely and regulated more rigorously? Here's Lawrence McGinty.

Lawrence McGinty: This is the first glimpse inside the practice where five of Dr. Shipman's victims died. These pictures show an apparently ordinary surgery, but here Shipman used computers to change medical records of the patients he'd killed, to falsely record diseases to explain their deaths. He practiced alone, with few checks on the drugs he used. The first inkling he was murdering patients came not from any watchdog, but through local GPs.

Hyde Gp: Could we have acted any sooner? Could we have done something better to have alerted the authorities sooner? And we still remain convinced that up and even when we did act, we didn't believe we had enough evidence to blow the whistle. But nonetheless, blow the whistle we did.

Lawrence McGinty: When those doubts were first reported to the Health Authority, Shipman was cleared. Today they suspended the doctor involved in that investigation.

Health Authority Spokesperson: Now the trial has concluded, the Health Authority believes that it would be appropriate to examine further the prior investigation into Dr. Shipman.

Lawrence McGinty: Tonight the General Medical Council said they were tightening up their procedures.

General Medical Council Spokesperson: No system can provide 100 percent fail-safe in the face of a secretive and determined criminal, but that makes vigilance all the more important.

Lawrence McGinty: And tomorrow, the health minister will announce an inquiry.

Government Minister: I will be making a statement to the House tomorrow on the broader implications of this case, but I do think it is appropriate that for now, given the fact that the verdict has just been delivered, that our thoughts are with those who have been affected.

Lawrence McGinty: That investigation will have to answer one simple question: why is it that the bodies meant to protect the public against rogue doctors failed to spot a GP who'd murdered not one, not two, but at least 15 of his patients? Lawrence McGinty, ITN, at Westminster.

Dermot Murnaghan: Well, live now to Colin Baker in Hyde. Colin, there must be a lot of shocked and disturbed people there tonight.

Colin Baker: You're very right, Dermot, for a number of reasons. [unclear: "You" / "He"; possibly "It"] must be stressed, first of all, that there are... the popularity of Dr. Shipman was immense. He ran a surgery just around the corner from here in the center of town. He had a patient list of some 3,000. Many of them were elderly people, and it is fair to say, with this popularity, it was more than that: they loved and they trusted him. Also, there are people here tonight whose relatives are now deceased, who were patients of Dr. Shipman's, and they must now be wondering just what role, if any, this doctor played in their loved ones' deaths.

Dermot Murnaghan: And Colin, people also asking themselves there tonight how such terrible events could happen in such an ordinary town.

Colin Baker: Very much so. I've been coming to Hyde now because of this story for just over a year. It is, as I find, a nice, warm, friendly town, with nice, warm, pleasant people, and they must be wondering now what on earth they did to have this man inflicted on them. They are well rid of him. They don't deserve any stigma that comes from knowing Dr. Shipman. What they do deserve is sympathy and understanding. If they were guilty of anything, it was simply trust.

Dermot Murnaghan: Colin Baker in Hyde, thanks a lot. ---