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Harold Shipman tried to kill inmates in jail, reveals ITV documentary

ITV docu reveals "Doctor Death" held clinics for inmates in cells

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Britain’s worst serial killer Harold Shipman attempted to continue his murderous spree in jail, a shocking new documentary has revealed.

Shipman, who poisoned at least 250 people over three decades, the vast majority of whom were vulnerable, elderly women, held clinics in prisoners’ cells after his conviction in a horrific bid to claim even more victims.

Two inmates ended up fighting for their lives having received an overdose of black market prescription drugs, a former prison chief told ITV’s Harold Shipman: Doctor Death last night.

“Doctor Death” Harold Shipman (Credit: ITV)

Ray Rowett, retired head of operations at Wakefield Prison, said: “Staff thought prisoners were going to him and he was holding clinics within cells.

“We had two prisoners who took ill and ended up in the intensive care unit. It looked as though they had been talking to Shipman.

“We obviously then thought that he was changing his modus operandi and that he could probably have had a hand in those two going to intensive care.”

Ray Rowett reveals Shipman tried to claim more victims (Credit: ITV)

The two inmates refused to cooperate with an internal investigation and Shipman, likewise, gave no answers to the ongoing public inquiry that uncovered the true scale of his crimes.

Read more: Serial killer walks out of tense TV interview as Piers Morgan goes for the jugular

Ray read out statements from prison staff and psychologists describing the serial killer as “both condescending and arrogant, obnoxious, solitary” and that he was “in total denial of his crime”.

Shipman was arrested in 1998 and found guilty two years later of 15 counts of murder, having hidden his killing spree in plain sight as a GP over three decades.

Shipman’s murder trial shocked the world (Credit: ITV)

The public inquiry was launched the day after his conviction and discovered that the real number of victims he poisoned to death was at least 250.

He committed suicide in Wakefield Prison in 2004.

Ray said: “Shipman told me on numerous occasions that when his pension was sorted out, he would kill himself.

“I distinctly remember him saying to me on one occasion, ‘I’m a doctor, I know where to do it’.”

Shipman’s wife Primrose never knew her husband’s dark secret (Credit: ITV)

Britain’s most notorious serial killer timed his death before retirement age so that his wife received his full pension and a £100,000 lump sum.

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“His whole purpose was to make sure that his wife was looked after financially and that’s exactly what happened.

“So you talk about control, you can’t have more control than that,” Ray added.

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor

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