Couple both lost parents to ‘Dr Death’
DOCUMENTARY TAKES A NEW LOOK AT THE CRIMES OF SERIAL KILLER HAROLD SHIPMAN
Alice and Jack Senior, both believed to be victims of Harold Shipman
A COUPLE from Tameside have spoken about the moment they found out they each had a parent that was likely murdered by Harold Shipman.
Jack and Sheila Shelmerdine opened up about their heartbreaking discovery in a new BBC Two programme that looks into how the killer, dubbed Doctor Death, got away with his crimes for so long.
The Shipman Files: A Very British Crime Story, made by filmmaker Chris Wilson, reveals that when the serial killer doctor began working in Hyde in 1977, Jack and Sheila were among his first patients to attend his surgery at Donneybrook Medical Centre.
Shipman - who later established himself at another surgery in 21 Market Street - was also the GP for both sets of parents, including Jack’s father, Jack Snr, and Sheila’s mum, Alice.
Jack Snr died in 1979, aged 77, while Alice died in 1982 aged 75. The GP was found guilty of killing 15 of his patients back in 2000, with the total number of victims said to be around 250.
It was two decades after their loved ones’ deaths that the Shelmerdines discovered that Jack Snr was murdered by
Caption in here and here and here and here
Shipman, and that Alice was likely murdered by him, when the inquiry into the doctor’s crimes was conducted, shortly after his conviction. Jack Shelmerdine tells the documentary of his parents: “They were so close - they were inseparable. My father died just before their 50th wedding anniversary. We got the celebration all lined up, it was a month before then that he died.”
In 2000, when the Shipman Inquiry reviewed Jack Snr’s case, it concluded that he had been murdered by the doctor.
The inquiry also looked at Sheila’s mum, Alice - also a patient of Shipman - who died at home in 1982, aged 75. Jack said: “Everything fitted the circumstances, but they couldn’t say 100 per cent, categorically, because no one had seen Shipman enter the premises.”
The documentary’s maker Chris said: “The big message I would like to get across is that it is not about him. I’m not interested in why he did it. This is about how we - all of us, not just the authorities - let him get away with it for so long.”
The Shipman Files: A Very British Crime Story continues on BBC Two tonight at 9pm, and concludes tomorrow at the same time.