163 of his patients died, but this doctor was still acquitted of murder

‘The rigorous standards of the law sometimes allow that the guilty walk free.’ Those were the words of Lord Justice Patrick Devlin after the trial of Doctor John Bodkin Adams came to a close in 1957.

A huge number of patients had died unexpectedly while under his care, the majority of whom were wealthy women. Many had altered their wills to add Adams’ name to the list of beneficiaries.