A new book is being published this year charting the life of an Eastbourne GP nicknamed Dr Death.

Dr John Bodkin Adams was accused of murdering his patients in a scandal that shocked Britain.

After a 17-day trial, he was acquitted of killing an elderly woman to get at her money, but 17 years after his death, people still point the finger of suspicion at the rotund GP.

Joe Lepper reports on a case that made legal history.

John Bodkin Adams died a free man in 1983.

But to this day many believe the Eastbourne GP should have gone to the gallows.

In the spring of 1957, Bodkin Adams was cleared of murdering 81-year-old patient Edith Alice Morrell after a 17-day trial during which the prosecution alleged he killed her with a morphine overdose to obtain a bequest.

Even though he was cleared, Bodkin Adams was struck off the medical register, but he was reinstated in 1961 and continued practising at Trinity Trees surgery, a large detached house in Eastbourne, until his death.

Seventeen years on, many people in Eastbourne still remember with mixed feelings the controversy that stalked the town during the late Fifties.

In 1986 actor Timothy West played Bodkin Adams in a made-for-TV drama about the GP, nickname Dr Death.

But was Bodkin Adams a mercenary killer who charmed his patients into handing over cash before dispatching them to the next world with morphine overdoses?

Or was he simply a bungler who couldn't cope with the rigours of modern medicine and made fatal mistakes?

One thing is certain: He had a lust for money and high living, owning three Rolls Royces, but many wondered where he got the money for such a lavish lifestyle.

After his acquittal, Bodkin Adams carried on living in Eastbourne, seemingly oblivious to the wagging tongues and twitching curtains in the town's leafy suburbs.

But on his death, the rumour-mongers came out into the open, some

damning in their condemnation, others defending his legally untarnished

reputation.

Safe from libel laws, some people alleged that the softly-spoken Irishman may have killed dozens of his patients.

Police were said to have investigated as many as 400 'suspicious' deaths, with many of his patients changing their wills beforehand, leaving Bodkin Adams thousands of pounds and expensive cars.

But West's portrayal of the doctor suggested he was more of a careless rogue than a murderer.

The adaptation was written by Richard Gordon, who said at the time: "My view is that he was innocent. I think he was a very bad doctor but that is not a capital offence.

"He was a sloppy doctor. He never kept a proper register of drugs and he put his patients on morphine far too early. He took the easy way out.

"The worst you could say about him was that he was a bit of a rogue."

A new book to be published this year by Eastbourne-based former pathologist-turned-author John Surtees paints an even-handed picture of the doctor.

Surtees recalls a time when doctors receiving money or possessions from wills were commonplace, particularly in Eastbourne, with its high proportion of elderly people. Often Dr Bodkin Adams was the only person to visit these lonely pensioners and became their friend.

When Dr Bodkin Adams died at the age of 84 at Eastbourne District General Hospital following a fall, those who knew him rallied to ensure he was remembered as a kindly GP rather than as one of Britian's most notorious mass murderers.

And he repaid them from beyond the grave, leaving thousands to friends in his will for their years of support.

His housekeeper, Doris Sellens, told the Argus after his death that the scars of the trial remained with him all his life.

She said: "He was a true Christian and it was only his faith in God which brought him through all those years.

"Dr Adams was kind to so many people, not only medically but financially as well, if they got into trouble. He was the kindest man in the world."

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