London
Britain’s worst mass murderer, a family doctor who killed hundreds of his patients, was found hanging dead in his cell this week. Harold Shipman was convicted in 2000 of murdering 15 patients by injecting them with heroin, but an inquiry later found that he had killed at least 200 more. Most of the victims were elderly people he had known for years. Shipman’s motive was never established, especially as he maintained his innocence throughout the trial, despite an abundance of physical evidence. Families of the victims said they felt cheated by his apparent suicide. “I always harbored the remote possibility that one day I could confront him and ask him why,” said Danny Mellor, whose mother was one of Shipman’s victims. “Now that’s been taken away from me.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Home Depots are the new epicenters of ICE raidsIn the Spotlight The chain has not provided many comments on the ongoing raids
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classroomsPros and cons The devices could be major distractions
