Each episode of Murder By Medic dissects the true story of a murderous physician as told by those who witnessed the case unfold, alongside medical experts and leading criminologists who delve deep into the psyche of the killer. The series airs weekdays at 8pm on Crime + Investigation.
Over the years, we’ve seen several grim cases of carers that kill. In the UK alone, there’s a vast history of medical professionals who have exploited their position of trust to maltreat patients they were meant to be looking after.
From one of the UK’s most prolific serial killers Harold Shipman, to Malcolm Webster who brutally murdered his first wife in 1994, this article takes a look at some of the UK’s most notorious medical offenders.
1. Harold Shipman
One of the worst examples of medical murderers in the UK has to be GP Harold Shipman. Labelled 'Doctor Death' by the UK press, Shipman was thought to have killed over 100 patients in the Greater Manchester area.
Mainly targeting elderly people, his method was to inject trusting victims with a deadly dose of drugs, claiming they died of natural causes. This process meant he was able to evade suspicion throughout most of the 1990s.
Shipman’s actions started to garner attention after an 81-year-old woman he was caring for was found dead in her home only a few hours after his visit.
One of the UK’s most infamous serial killers, Harold Shipman was finally convicted in 2000 of 15 counts of murder.
2. Beverley Allitt
A heinous tale of medical murder that will shock anyone is that of Beverly Allitt. She was given 13 life sentences, one for each of the children she murdered, or attempted to murder, back in the 1990s.
Between February and April 1991, 13 children had been admitted to Grantham and Kesteven Hospital in Lincolnshire for minor injuries. That includes Allitt’s youngest victim, Liam Taylor, who was just seven weeks old at the time of his death. It was discovered that Allitt had been injecting her patients with a dangerous dose of insulin.
Staff started to become suspicious of the ex-nurse after her fourth victim died of another cardiac arrest, 15-month-old Claire Peck. There had been several suspicious cardiac arrests on the children’s ward Allitt was working on, so the police began an investigation.
It was later uncovered that Allitt was the only member of staff on duty at the time of the children’s murders. She was found guilty of four counts of murder, three of attempted murder, and six counts of GBH in 1993.
3. Malcolm Webster
When it comes to unbelievable crimes, the case of Malcolm Webster is always a top contender. Working as a nurse, he murdered his first wife Claire in a fake fireball crash in 1994.
Described as 'The Black Widow', Webster murdered Claire by staging a car crash in Aberdeenshire – whereby he drove the car off the road and started a fire while she lay unconscious. Webster claimed more than £200,000 from insurance policies, claiming her death was a tragic accident.
But sadly, the web of lies didn’t end there. Webster’s next stop was New Zealand. In 1999, he was also convicted of deliberately causing a deadly car crash involving his second wife Felicity Drumm and her unborn child. Luckily, Felicity survived the attack.
After a long and complicated trial, Webster was convicted of crimes that spanned 11 pages on the formal accusation.
4. Marie Whiston
Abusing her medical skills to kill rather than care, Marie Whiston was sentenced to life in 1997 for murdering her then-partner Eric Lloyd to start a new life in Canada with her lover.
Months prior to Eric’s death in 1994, it was reported that the victim had changed his will, leaving his whole estate to his common-law wife Whiston.
An autopsy later revealed that Whiston had been injecting Eric between the toes with lethal doses of insulin, which would later result in his death.
The ex-nurse was handed a life sentence by Birmingham Crown Court in 1997, with a 16-year minimum term.
5. Mitesh Patel
Yorkshire pharmacist Mitesh Patel killed his wife and stole her eggs, all to claim her life insurance and run away with his lover. A true case of believing the unbelievable, Patel was convicted of strangling his wife Jessica in a bid to steal her embryos and escape to Australia.
Staging a break-in at their Middlesborough home, Patel subdued Jessica with an insulin injection before placing a plastic bag over her head. He advised authorities he wasn’t at home at the time she was killed.
The ex-pharmacist was sentenced to life in prison for his evil crimes, serving a minimum sentence of at least 30 years.
