London - Britain's worst serial killer, Harold Shipman, will not face any more murder charges, prosecutors said yesterday. Shipman (54), called "Dr Death", was jailed last month for life after being convicted of murdering 15 of his women patients with lethal injections of heroin.
He is suspected of committing a further 146 murders during his 20 years as a family doctor in northern England. Police in Manchester said this week they had enough evidence to charge Shipman with the murders of 23 of them.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr David Calvert-Smith, said yesterday that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had told police not to bring any further murder charges.
"There is sufficient evidence to proceed against Harold Shipman but I have reluctantly concluded that it would be wrong to proceed to a second, and possibly third, trial in respect of 23 further alleged murders. This is a quite exceptional course that I have taken," he said.