British serial killer Harold Shipman - the former family GP who murdered 15 elderly patients by heroin injection - could have murdered a total of about 300 victims during a 24-year killing spree.
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| Harold Shipman |
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 there were 297 more deaths at his practice than were reported by other doctors working around the same time in the same area.
The study, commissioned by Britain's health ministry, also found 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 may have died at Shipman's hands. They said they thought the figure for possible victims may rise as more people come forward.
At his trial at Preston Crown Court Shipman was also found guilty of forging the will of one of his elderly victims to inherit her #386,000 estate.
Reuters/AFP