Online Encyclopedia
John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams, born January 21st 1899 in Eastbourne, England, was suspected of the murder of at least two people. He died in 1983.
John Adams was a general practitioner in Eastbourne. Starting in 1946, Adams had been favoured over one-hundred times in the wills of his patients, some of who died under suspicious circumstances.
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Edith Alice Morrell
One of doctor Adams's patients was Mrs. Edith Alice Morrell, a wealthy widow. She had suffered from a heart attack, was partially paralyzed and had severe arthritis. In 1949 she had moved to Eastbourne, and came under the supervision of Adams. He supplied her with doses of heroine and morfine to ease her pain. Mrs. Morrell made several wills. In some of them, dr. Adams received large sums of money or furniture - in others, he was not even mentioned. On August 24th she most definitely added a clause to her will stating Adams would receive nothing. Three months later, on the 13th of November, she died. Adams concluded it was a brain thrombosis that had killed her. Despite Mrs. Morrell's added clause, the doctor received money, a Rolls-Royce and an antique dressoir.
Gertrude Hullett
In July 1956 Gertrude Hullett, another one of Adams's patients, fell ill. While she was unconscious, Adams called the pathologist to make an appointment for the autopsy - at this point, Mrs. Hullett hadn't even died yet. The pathologist was shocked and accused Adams of 'extreme incompetence'. Gertrude Hullett died on July 23rd, 1956. As the cause of death, Dr. Adams stated it was a brain haemorrhage. Francis Camps, the pathologist argued this and suggested the woman had been poisoned with sleeping pills. Suspicion grew when it became known that Mrs. Hullett had left her Rolls-Royce to the doctor. The offial investigation concluded Hullett had committed suicide, and doctor Adams got off with a warning.
The Investigation & Trial
Scotland Yard, however, was not so easily put off guard. After several months of investigation, police confronted Adams on October 1st, 1956 with the rather suspicious circumstances surrounding the two deaths and the legacies he had received. Dr. Adams replied that Mrs. Morrell had wanted to die - and that it was no crime to ease the suffering of the terminally ill. He further claimed the practitioner couldn't possibly be held guilty for such an action. Nonetheless, he stood in court in March 1957. Mainly due to the defense of QC Sir Frederick Geoffrey Lawrence, Adams was found not guilty. Lawrence pointed out that the charge was mainly based on testimonies from the nurses who had tended to Mrs. Morrell - and none of the testimonies matched the others. Because dr. Adams himself did not appear in the witness stand, it was not allowed to produce evidence from Gertrude Hullett's case - and therefore a nurse, who had worked with Adams on Hullett, could not be called upon to repeat her words to Adams in July 1956: 'You do realize, doctor, that you have killed her?'. Adams was found innocent on April 10th 1957.
Guilty or Innocent?
Adams resigned from the National Health Service and was convicted later that year for forging receipts, and ordered to pay a fine of £2,200 and in November he was struck off the medical register . He stayed in Eastbourne, despite the common belief that he had murdered eight people. In 1961, he was reinstated as a general practitioner. John Bodkin Adams died on the 4th of July 1983, aged eighty-four. At the time of his death, his fortune was £402,970. He had been receiving legacies until his death. Although he was never found guilty of murder, many people still believe he was a man who murdered for money. Others think he committed a form of euthanasia.
References
- J.H.H. Gaute and Robin Odell, The New Murderer's Who's Who, 1996, Harrap Books, London