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'Dr. Death' Britain's Worst Serial Killer

Aired July 19, 2002 - 14:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to England, and more questions about motive. For years, Harold Shipman was a trusted small-town doctor. In January of last year, he was convicted as Britain's worst serial killer. Now, authorities say it's even worse than they thought.

CNN's Diana Muriel joins us live from Manchester -- Diana.

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. You are joining me here at a building where a short while ago, families of the victims gathered together with the solicitor, Ann Alexander, who represents around 300 of them, to give their reaction to Dame Janet Smith's interim report in the public inquiry that she is heading, which is being conducted at Manchester Town Hall, not far from where I am standing.

Dame Janet looked at 887 cases, which Shipman was involved in. She found that he was responsible for the unlawful killing of at least 200 of his patients. Now, that is in addition to the 15 patients that he was convicted of murdering in a court case that ended in January, 2000.

She also found that there were further 45 cases in which the deaths of the victims were suspicious. And in 38 cases, she said that she was unable to draw a firm conclusion. She dismissed the other cases as death by natural circumstances.

A very shocking tally of dead. It makes Dr. Harold Shipman Britain's biggest serial killer, and this is what Dame Janet had to say earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE DAME JANET SMITH: I warned at the outset that it was inevitable that there would be some cases in which I would be able to provide an answer for the relatives. I hope that the families of those patients will understand why I have been unable to reach a conclusion, and will at least feel some comfort in the knowledge that their relative's death has been looked into as far as was possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURIEL: Some of those questions answered, but many not. And the most important question perhaps is why? Dr. Harold Shipman injected most of his victims with lethal doses of diamorphine or morphine, commonly known as heroin. But quite why he did it is still unknown. I was speaking to some of the relatives of those victims, and one of them, Jane Ashton Hibbert, her grandmother was a victim of Dr. Harold Shipman. She herself was his patient, and so was her sister. And this was her reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE ASHTON HIBBERT, VICTIM'S GRANDDAUGHTER: You trust your doctor. And I don't think you ever really get over that betrayal of trust, which is almost as bad as losing your relative. It's just that betrayal of trust. It's a terrible thing to go through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURIEL: Dr. Harold Shipman has expressed no regret and no remorse. He has made no apology to the relatives of the victims. Perhaps we'll never know the answer to quite why he killed so many of his patients -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Diana Muriel, thank you.

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