Harold Shipman: Dr Harold Frederick Shipman, known as Fred Shipman to his family (January 14, 1946 â?? January 13, 2004) was a British general practitioner who was the most prolific known serial killer in British history (and possibly the world).

He killed around 250 patients from the 1970s to 1998, in Hyde, mainly elderly women who lived alone and were otherwise in good health. He was eventually caught after he ineptly forged a new will for one of his victims. He was convicted on 15 sample charges in 2000 and sentenced to life imprisonment. He committed suicide in 2004 at HMP Wakefield, without admitting or explaining his crimes.