Harold Shipman, Britain's most prolific serial killer, was found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison on Tuesday morning. The 57-year-old former GP, who was serving 15 life sentences for murdering patients, used bed sheets to hang himself from window bars, hidden behind a curtain.
The Prison Service confirmed that Shipman was discovered at 6.20am, despite being checked at 5am and showing no signs of distress. Staff attempted resuscitation, but he was pronounced dead at 8.10am. Shipman had not been on suicide watch at Wakefield, having been deemed low-risk since his transfer there in June 2003.
Shipman's suicide came just one day before his 58th birthday. He had recently been stripped of privileges due to poor behaviour, with his status reduced to basic and his television removed. Prison sources indicated he was generally non-compliant with staff, but had shown no pre-suicidal behaviour.
The killer's motive for suicide is believed to be calculated: he took to his grave the secrets of his 23-year murder spree, which Dame Janet Smith's inquiry concluded claimed at least 215 victims, with suspicion over another 45. Shipman never confessed or explained his crimes, leaving families without closure.
Relatives of victims expressed mixed emotions. Kathleen Wood, whose mother Bessie Baddeley died in 1997, said: 'I am not sorry he has gone, but it brings it all back. I just wish he had been forthcoming.' The Prisons and Probations Ombudsman will investigate the death.
