Addicted to Murder

by Miaela Sitford

Written by two investigative journalists who have covered the case from the start, this book tells the story of the trial of Dr Harold Shipman, who has been found guilty of killing 15 women in his care.

261 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2000

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's been a drive in recent years -- epitomised by books like The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper and podcasts like "RedHanded" and "Sinisterhood" -- to emphasise the stories of the lives of murder victims before they were snuffed out, remembering the humanity of people who might otherwise be treated as statistics. It's a noble approach that must be tempered by the fact that serial killers, with their disordered psychology and often strange lives, are generally more interesting subjects than their unfortunate victims. If an author or podcaster can strike the right balance between empathy and interest, I'm all for it. Alas, sometimes it's a wasted effort, as with Addicted to Murder (aka Harold Shipman). Not only is Harold Shipman a thoroughly boring antagonist with conventional motives, but, with all due respect, his victims aren't that interesting either. There's only so many times you can hear about how people loved nothing more than sitting around watching daytime TV and waiting for their loved ones to visit before you start to mentally check out. This book is less than 300 pages long but it goes on forever, achieving the impressive feat of getting ever more tedious as the Shipman body count rises. My advice is to stick with one of the several Shipman documentaries available on YouTube, which you can be done with in less than an hour. Either that or you can spend eternity with this book.

[readerofreallife · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Harold Shipman case has haunted me since I was a child. I can clearly remember watching the news reports and thinking, 'I hope all doctors aren't like that.'

'Addicted to Murder' was the first book written by the affair, published a week after Shipman was sentenced to life imprisonment. Like a lot of these true crime tomes that were 'rushed' written, there is repetition, a few inaccuracies, and, as we know now, a lot that went unsaid. The latter is not the fault of the author, as it was only a few years later that it was discovered that Shipman had taken many more lives, some spanning decades earlier.

That said, there is a lot to recommend in this small package, and it still serves as a good overview of the case. The main author, Mikaela Sitford, was the first person to break the story in the 'Manchester Evening News' and followed it very closely, so she had a good insight into what was going on and faithfully reported every new development thereafter. As you can expect from a journalist, the writing is sensationalist but very readable. I did tire a little of Shipman being constantly referred to as 'evil,' 'twisted,' 'cold-hearted,' 'arrogant, ' and so on. While this was clearly not slander, his crimes and general behaviour certainly justify all of those adjectives, but I found it slightly patronising. It should go without saying and the readers are intelligent enough to realise this.

The book begins with Angela Woodruff, the daughter of Shipman's last victim, Kathleen Grundy, whose attention was brought to a document allegedly from her recently deceased mother, who had changed her will, very unexpectedly and very close to the end of her life. Kathleen Grundy had, on the face of it, disinherited her family and left everything she owned to Shipman. As a result of her own investigation, Angela gathered enough information to prove the will was a fake, and the man who'd faked it, and probably killed Mrs. Grundy, was her doctor, Shipman. Thanks to Angela, he was finally brought to justice.

From there, the reader is taken through the police investigation and the exhumations of all the bodies, which the police were convinced had morphine inside them. Then we meet the people who suspected Shipman of being a murderer and we read about the original police investigation, which was conducted in secret and was a complete failure, resulting in the murders of three more people.

Mikaela Sitford spoke to many people who knew the victims, mostly elderly ladies who lived alone, all of whom trusted and liked Shipman, and all of whom were not terminally ill. The reader learns about all those whose bodies were dug up, and Sitford admirably gives them a voice. These were not just names in a long list published by the media; they were real people who mostly led busy, rather inspiring lives and were much-loved. She also investigated Shipman's childhood, speaking to those who knew him and his family. We are given a peek into his marriage, days at medical school and what his early colleagues thought of him before he went into single-handed practice in 1992, whilst already a prolific murderer. She also spoke to Shipman's former patients, and despite his glowing reputation, there were some who disliked him.

What I found particularly interesting were the chapters that cover the trial. Sitford was there every day, so she could provide vivid descriptions of how Shipman looked and acted, as well as the testimony of all the witnesses. As always, my heart went out to the loved ones of those whose lives were taken so callously. I find the case chilling. The crimes were not as gory as those of Ted Bundy or Peter Sutcliffe. But it really breaks my heart to think that such lovely people went to their deaths so unexpectedly by rolling their arms up to receive an injection from someone we are all supposed to trust - our doctor.

The introductory pages by the late Colin Wilson were something that I found particularly dull, and I could have done without them. But the bulk of 'Addicted to Murder' is an engaging, informative book (even though Shipman will remain an enigma as he never confessed to his crimes and took the reasons as to why he did it to his grave), and it is mostly very sensitive to those who matter, the victims and their families and friends.