Harold Shipman, the British doctor jailed last year for killing 15 patients, may have murdered up to 300 victims during a 24-year killing spree, according to a government report published on Friday.
That figure exceeds earlier reports that he was responsible for up to 265 deaths, and if proven would make Shipman the world's worst serial killer on record.
A statistical study of mortality rates among Shipman's patients found that there were 297 more deaths at his practice than were reported by other doctors working around the same time in the same area.
But the report's author, professor Richard Baker, told a press conference in London he felt the number of excess deaths was likely to be around 236, because it represents deaths which occurred at patients' homes, which tallied with Shipman's preferred modus operandi.
"I should say 236 is the one I feel is most likely to represent the number of excess deaths," Baker said.
The study, commissioned by Britain's health ministry, also found that women over the age of 75 accounted for most of the unusual deaths.
It looked into the 55-year-old doctor's clinical record from 1974 until 1998 at his practices in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, in northern England and later in Hyde, a suburb of Manchester in north west England.
Police said they had set up a hotline for anyone who believed a relative might have died at Shipman's hands. They said they thought the figure for possible victims might rise as more people come forward.
To date, the worst proven serial killer is Colombian Luis Alfredo Garavito, who authorities convicted of killing 189 people.
Yet Shipman, dubbed "Doctor death" by the British media, is unlikely to face a new trial for any murders which emerged since his conviction.
The judicial authorities have said that because of his notoriety, it would be impossible to stage an objective trial and the evidence, though compelling, may not be enough to get a conviction in all the cases.
At his trial in Manchester last January, the court heard that Shipman, a respected and well-liked family physician, killed his mostly elderly victims by administering fatal does of diomorphine.
Most of his known victims died in their own homes, when none of their relatives were around.
Britain's Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson said of the study: "The analysis makes chilling reading."
"Taken in the round, the review suggests that there must be serious concerns about deaths of some patients during Harold Shipman's entire career."
He added: "The questions raised in the report will be distressing reading to the patients and relatives who were under Shipman's care over the years, but it is important for their sake that this work has been done and is published."
The study will raise disturbing questions about why, if Shipman's clinical records showed such an unusually high death rate, he was allowed to continue practicing for more than two decades before police intervened.
Shipman, who will spend the rest of his life in Frankland high security prison in County Durham, north-east England, has never admitted his guilt and has refused to help police with their investigations.
Hyde resident Helen Blackwell, 47, has been told by police that her mother Bertha Moss, is likely to have been one of Shipman's victims.
"We always thought he had killed more," she said.
"I think everyone is going to start looking again at how their loved ones died. I know personally of people who suspected but didn't come forward and this will open new wounds for them."
"Some people didn't come forward because they aren't able to handle it and there may be other people who just never suspected." -- LONDON (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
