The 5 Biggest Female Serial Killers

1. Dr Harold Shipman (218)

DrHarold Shipman was a British General Practitioner, who on 31st January2000 was found guilty of 15 murders. He was given a whole life sentenceby the British Home Secretary despite the government having abolishedsuch terms prior to the case. After the trial a public enquiry calledthe 'Shipman Enquiry' found that there was enough evidence to suggestthat Shipman had probably killed around 250 people, of whom 218 couldbe identified.

Shipman remains the only British doctor to ever have been foundguilty of murdering a patient and his conviction led to an overhaul ofthe legal structure for healthcare and medicine. A particularcharacteristic of Shipman's crimes is that 80% of his victims werewomen and that most were elderly, with his youngest victim being a 41year old male. Harold Shipman had graduated from Leeds School ofMedicine in 1970 and started his career at Pontefract GeneralInfirmary, West Yorkshire. He moved on in 1974 to Todmorden, WestYorkshire, where he took his first position as a GP. Just a year laterhe was caught stealing subscription drug pethidine for his own use. Hewas fined £600 and sent to a drug rehab clinic in York until clean.


The first concerns about Shipman emerged in March 1998 when a funeral parlour manager expressed concerns to the local coroner about the high death rate amongst his patients. A fellow doctor took these concerns seriously and claimed that he was killing his patients, either through negligence or intentionally, however the police were unable to press charges through a lack of evidence (the police were later criticised for putting inexperienced officers on the case, and Shipman was to kill three further victims before his eventual arrest).

His final victim was Kathleen Grundy, a former mayor of Hyde, who was found dead at her home in June 1998. Shipman was the last person to see her alive and later signed her death certificate, claiming that 'old age' was her cause of death. Grundy's daughter had become concerned after she was informed that a will had been made by her mother which left all £386,000 to Shipman who was subsequently again reported to police. Grundy's body was dug up and was found to contain traces of diamorphine, also known as 'heroin'. Shipman was arrested in September 1998 and a search of his home found a typewriter of the exact type used to forge the will. Police subsequently investigated other deaths and found a consistent pattern of lethal doses of diamorphine, signing death certificates, and then altering medical records to say that they had been in ill health. It is still, and probably will always be unknown as to why he forged the will. It is likely that he either wished to be caught or wanted to escape the country with the fortune.

Shipman was convicted of the murders of fifteen elderly females, all of whom died between the years 1995 and 1998. The subsequent enquiry decided against pursuing charges for another 213 cases, the same trial revealed that Shipman himself was a regular user of drugs for recreational use. Shipman hanged himself in his cell at Wakefield Prison on 13th January 2004, the day before his 58th birthday. The families of many of his victims felt cheated as they would never receive a confession for the murders. It is believed that Shipman had killed himself so that his wife would recieve a full National Health Service pension, which she would not have been entitled to had he have died after the age of 60. After his death it had been confirmed that Shipman had stolen jewellery from his victims, with 33 pieces confirmed as not belonging to his wife.

2. Gilles de Rais (200)

Gilles de Rais was a Breton knight and the companion in arms of Joan of Arc, he is best known however as a prolific serial killer of children. From 1427 to 1435 de Rias had served as a commander in the French Royal Army, including battles against the English alongsider Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War. He retired from military life in 1435 where he squandered his wealth and dabbled in the occult.

He is believed to have committed his first child murder sometime between Spring 1432 and Spring 1433 and was followed by similar crimes. In 1440 de Rais had a dispute with a clergyman that had ended in violence and the church began an investigation, during which his crimes were brought to light. At his trial the parents of many missing children in the local area and some of de Rais own accomplices in crime were summoned to testify against him. He was hung for his crime in the French city of Nantes on 26th October 1440. de Rais had first turned to the occult around 1435 after he had almost bankrupted himself and lost almost all of his substantial estates, which he had sold or mortgaged in order to fund his own theatrical production.

A man named Francesco Prelati had promised de Rais that he could help him regain his fortune by sacrificing children to a demon, although we should be open minded to this story being 'created' at his trial in an attempt to find an explanation for his crimes. de Rais admitted charges of murder, sodomy and heresy on 21st October 1440 after graphic descriptions of the murders by his accomplices were deemed too distressing to even be placed in court records. The number of murders generally placed on de Rais range from 80 - 200, although some have suggested many more. The victims ranged from the ages of 6 up to 18 and were both male and female.

In his confession Gilles had maintained that the the attacks started between Spring 1432 and Spring 1433 in Champtoce. Shortly after he moved to Machecoul where he his confession states that he killed, or ordered the killing of, a great number of children after he had committed sodomy upon them. Forty bodies are believed to have been recovered in Machecoul.

3. Luis Garavito (140)

Colombian Luis Garavito, also known as "La Bestia" (The Beast) is a serial rapist and killer. In 1999 he admitted to the murder and rape of 140 young boys, a figure that could now rise to around 300 following recent maps drawn by Garavito which is said to represent the locations of skeletons. He has been described by the local media in Colombia as 'The World's worst serial killer', however this claim is currently unfounded. It is a label that could still become official.

Once captured Garavito was given a the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison whilst the government, unlike the British government who changed their laws for sentencing of Harold Shipman, have also allowed his sentence to be reduced to 22 years as a result of his cooperation. Astonishingly, 52 year old Garavito may even be allowed to apply for early release, meaning that he could once again be a danger to the streets. In late 2006 the Colombians did change laws to enable the maximum penalty to be extended, however as of yet they have not applied this to Garavito.

Like many child abusers, Garavito claims to himself be a victim of sexual abuse by his father when young. All of Garavito's victims were poor street children between the age of 6 and 16, he approached them on the street and offered them gifts or small amounts of money to gain their trust. After he gained their trust he would take them for walks until they got tired and take advantage of them. After raping the children he would cut their throats and often dismember them. Many of the corpses showed signs of torture when recovered.
Upon his arrest in April 1999 he confessed to 140 murders and has been found guilty of some 138 other murders across 59 Colombian counties, with a further 34 still being investigated and more likely to appear. He was sentenced to a total of 1,853 years and 9 days, however under Colombian law he had to serve these sentences concurrently, meaning that a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison could be given. It remains to be seen whether Garavito will be allowed out to offend again.

4. Thug Behram (125)

Thug Behram (ca 1765 - 1840), a one time leader of the 'Thuggee Cult' in India is said to have killed up to 931 victims by strangulation with the ceremonial cloth used by his cult. Behram is quoted however as saying that he was in fact 'present' at 931 murders, but only actually committed 125 himself, and actually witnessed about a further 150 being strangled. Behram was hanged for his murders in 1840.
The English word 'Thug' is in fact borrowed from the word 'Thuggee', although the use of the word today differs from the true reality of the 'Thuggee'. The 'Thuggee' were covert and operated as a member of a group, and the term typically referred to the killing of a large number of people in a single operation. This distinguished the term from simple armed robbery as they would target groups of travellers and kill them in one go, before taking their possessions.
Many modern sources describe the Thuggee as a religious cult, however others feel that it was merely the equivalent of modern day organised crime with no particular religious objectives. The Thuggee almost died out as a result of British occupation of India in the 19th century, however it is believed that smaller cells of Thuggee survived until the early parts of 20th century. Another factor in the decline of the Thuggee is the emergence of new forms of travel, mainly the railways, instead of by horses or by foot.

5. Javed Iqbal (100)

Pakistani Javed Iqbal was found guilty of the sexual abuse and murder of 100 children, a number which is self proclaimed. This figure is however disputed after 26 of those children were found alive, although the case was never re-opened. In December 1999 Iqbal sent a letter to police and a newspaper in Lahore admitting to the murder of 100 boys, all aged between 6 and 16; chillingly this was the same age range as Luis Garavito (number 3 on this list) who was arrested just seven months prior.
In the letter he claimed to have strangled his victims. Just like Luis Garavito, his victims were all street children and he dismembered most of the bodies. Unlike Garavito, Iqbal did not bury his victims, but instead disposed of the dead bodies in vats full of hydrochloric acid before dumping the remains in local rivers. Police who investigated the letters found bloodstains on the walls and floor of his house and a chain that Iqbal claimed he used to strangle his victims. There was also photographs of many of his victims in plastic bags, each of which were neatly labelled with handwritten notes. There was also two vats of hydrochloric acid with human remains inside, with a note attached stating that the remains had not be disposed of so that the authorities could find them.

The letter stated that Iqbal had planned to drown himself in the river following the crimes, therefore the police searched for his body in the river. After the unsuccessful hunt the police launched the largest manhunt in Pakistan's history. Four accomplices, all boys that lived with Iqbal in his three bedroom property, were found and arrested; one of these boys died within just a few days of his arrest by jumping from his cells window. A month after the launch of the search, Iqbal handed himself in to the offices of a newspaper and was subsequently arrested. He stated that he handed himself to the newspaper because he believed that the police would kill him immediately.

Although a diary found at his house also detailed descriptions of the murders, and the notes in his house matching his handwriting, Iqbal withdrew his confession and claimed that the whole episode was a hoax set up by the government to explain the plight of runaway children. Over a hundred witnesses testified against Iqbal and he, along with his accomplices, were found guilty and Iqbal was sentenced to death by hanging. The judge stated upon delivering his sentence that he wished Iqbal to die in the same way as his many victims, this was reported by many of the media as his actual sentence, however it seems that this was taken out of context.

Iqbal and his accomplice Sajid Ahmad were found dead in their cells on the morning of 8th October 2001 and it was reported that they had committed suicide by hanging themselves with bedsheets, although there was much speculation that they were murdered. This speculation could well be well founded as autopsies revealed that they had both been severely beaten prior to death.

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