Harold Shipman's Real Name: Harold Shipman

Quick answer: The doctor is known as Harold Shipman. A longer middle name sometimes repeated elsewhere is not independently confirmed here by two independent publishers, so this page titles him under the public name. The Guardian dates a 1946 birth in Nottingham. On January 31, 2000, a Preston Crown Court jury convicted him of murdering 15 patients. The Guardian later reported that he died on January 13, 2004, at Wakefield prison.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers identify him under the name Harold Shipman. A Guardian chronology published on January 13, 2004, says he was born in 1946 on Nottingham's Bestwood council estate and later attended the city's High Pavement grammar school. The same account says he graduated from Leeds University medical school in 1970 and later practised as a general practitioner in Hyde, Greater Manchester, setting up his own surgery on Market Street in 1992. That 1946 Nottingham listing is not independently confirmed here by a second independent publisher, so it is recorded in the body and is not treated as settled in the summary.

Career highlights

Convictions

The Guardian reported on January 31, 2000, that a jury at Preston Crown Court had that day found him guilty of murdering 15 female patients while working at his Manchester-area practice, and that Mr Justice Forbes imposed 15 life sentences, telling him that "life must mean life." The same report says he was also convicted of forging a will and received an additional four-year sentence on that charge, and that he had denied all the charges. A later Guardian Q&A, published August 25, 2005, independently says he was convicted at Preston Crown Court in January 2000 of the murder of 15 patients and was serving 15 life sentences. The 2000 report also notes an earlier conviction, more than 20 years before the murders, for misuse of drugs; the 2005 Q&A independently records a February 1976 conviction for obtaining pethidine by forgery and deception.

Death

The Guardian's August 2005 Q&A says he was found dead in his cell at Wakefield prison on January 13, 2004, at age 57. A Guardian chronology dated January 13, 2004, independently dates the death to January 13, 2004.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Harold Shipman are looking for the same British doctor. This page uses the public name.