Dora Mitchell

### Spouse(s)

Stephen Thompson (1961-1975)Joseph Shortman (1977-1993)Michael Barryman (1994-2000)

### Children

4 (3 adopted)

> Mitchell is the type of woman who should never be crossed. She is a poisonous rose, who would attack anyone with her thorns. She's a nasty, over protective and envious character, who will not stop until she has got what she wants.
>
> T.J Williams describing the character 2019

Dorothy "Dora" Jean Mitchell (February 24 1945-) is an English serial killer who was dubbed the "Untouchable Widow" by the press. In 2001, Mitchell was convicted of the murders of three of her ex-husbands and attemped murder of one other. She is the mother of Emily and the adoptive mother of Sean, James and Harry.

Her first victim was her first husband Stephen Thompson, who she murdered in 1975, in an act of revenge for him being unfaithful to her. Whilst they argued in their home, she brutally attacked him with an ashtray and buried his corpse in their garden, before setting fire to the house the following morning. Her second husband and victim was Joseph Shortman, who she struck with a hammer, after he told her he was planning on leaving her. Her third husband and victim was Michael Barryman, who she suffocated with a pillow whilst they were in bed and got her adopted son Sean Shortman to dispose of the body. She is currently serving a life sentence, without parole, at Drake Hall prison.

At her trial in 2001, Mitchell pleaded guilty to the murders and told the court room where she had hid the bodies. When the police searched the areas, they discovered the bones of both Stephen Thompson and Joseph Shortman, and the body of Michael Barryman. The jury's foreman found her guilty and the judge sentenced her to life imprisonment. The following year in November 2002, a psychiatrist diagnosed her with schizophrenia and a borderling personality disorder.

She escaped from the prison in mid 2008, along with a few other inmates, but was found after just four days at her adopted son Sean Shortman's house, who informed the police of her whereabouts.

## Early life

Mitchell was born on February 24 1945 on Beverley Road, Lichfield. She was the fourth child of Geoffrey Mitchell (1907-1979) and Agnes (nee Hill; 1910-1986). Her parents already had three children named Martin, Carol and Julia. Beverley Road (later renamed Dunmore Street) was a frequent location for the Mitchell family for many years. In 1961, when she was sixteen she married Stephen Thompson in Stafford.

## Personal life

### Marriage to Stephen Thompson

#### Main Article: Mr & Mrs. Thompson

Mitchell married Stephen Thompson on August 3 1961 at Walton Hall in Stafford. Their marriage sustained irreparable consequences in 1969, after Mitchell kissed Michael Barryman, who was dating her sister Julia, they met at her twenty-sixth birthday party and she caught them in the act. Their marriage was successful preceding her betrayal. However, after Mitchell admitted to being unfaithful, following the birth of their only child Emily, she was told by Stephen that he could forgive her. She thought their marriage could become successful again. Eventually, Mitchell thought she had been long forgiven, but their marriage became loveless. She suggested to Stephen that they should try marriage counselling, but he refused to acknowledge the idea. On the night of July 30 1974, Stephen declared to Mitchell, that he wanted a divorce, resulting in an argument. Immediately after the argument ended, Stephen stormed out of the house, as Mitchell went upstairs to check on Emily, who she found laying unconscious in her bed. After trying and failing to wake her up, she called for an ambulance. One of the paramedics declared her dead and the police were called, as her death appeared to be suspicious. When Stephen returned home hours later, he was heavily drunk and went  instantly to bed. The morning after, she was crying in the living room and told Stephen what happened, leading him to comfort her. They were later told by a coroner, that their daughter died of an unexpected coughing syncope and they buried her at Stafford Cemetery. There was subsequently an awkward silence between them and they stopped spending time alone together, talking to each other and sleeping together. One year later, Mitchell came home early from work one day and caught Stephen in their bed with another woman called Karen White, who he had secretly been dating for four years. She dragged his mistress out of the bed by her long brunette hair and forced her out of the house, before throwing her clothes out of the bedroom window. She and Stephen then began arguing, and he admitted to the affair and also told her that he never could forgive her for being unfaithful to him. She got annoyed, when he told her that he was planning on leaving her for good. She grabbed an ashtray from the arm of the sofa and hit him over the head with it, knocking him out. Whilst he laid on the floor unconscious, she hit him once again, this time killing him. She buried his corpse in the back garden and set fire to the house the following day, after calling the fire department, but was gone by the time the firefighters had arrived at the scene.

### Marriage to Joseph Shortman

Main article: Mr & Mrs. Shortman

Mitchell married Joseph Shortman on May 18 1977, at St. Michael's Church in Stoke-on-Trent. Their marriage suffered atrocious consequences when they adopted Sean in December. Overtime their marriage became miserable and irreversible. The purpose of adopting their second child James in 1984, was to try and fix their marital difficulties, but actually it torn them further apart. Mitchell was never a good mother, she was either ridiculously overprotective or too abusive, she could never get it right. Joseph however made strenuous efforts to become an excellent father, but was never sanctioned to spend time with Sean on his own, as Mitchell consistently feared that something might happen to him and could never cope with the trauma of losing a second child. Although she would feel disgruntled when she knew Sean felt excluded, when Joseph used to spend time with James, by going to football matches or buying him gifts. Before adopting their third child, they used to compete against each other in "Who Had The Better Child", a competition they invented. Eventually they decided to try and fix the problems in their marriage, by adopting a third child named Harry in 1988. He vaguely restored the happiness of their marriage, but they still faced problems. A short while after his adoption, James ran away from home in the early hours of the morning and was not seen for several hours. Despite the fact that he was missing, Mitchell did not seem to be interested. However, Joseph and a search party sought the area to find him. He was eventually found in a builder's yard and brought back home by Joseph. Mitchell was a better mother to Harry than she was to James. However, she used to order him to steal from their neighbours and local shops. He was once caught doing so by a police officer, who brought him back home and Mitchell lied to the officer when she claimed she would punish him, but never did. Mitchell never expected their marriage to end and secretly hoped that things would improve. However, On August 23 1993, Joseph revealed that he was planning on leaving her, which resulted in an argument. Once the conflict came to an abrupt conclusion, Joseph tried to walk out of the house, but was stopped by Mitchell, when she violently attacked him with a hammer she picked up from a nearby table. Her murderous actions resulted in the end of Joseph's life.

### Main article: Mr & Mrs. Barryman

Mitchell began her third marriage to Michael Barryman, on September 27th 1994, despite the fact that they had only been in a relationship for six months. They had not met for over twenty-five years, not since their kiss in 1969. Upon getting to know each other, they were surprised when they discovered they had both lost their spouses and were single parents. When Michael introduced Mitchell to his four children, they took an instant dislike to her, but remained courteous for their father's sake. Mitchell invited Michael to live with her, as he was sleeping at the home of one of his children and he moved into her house where she had formerly lived with Joseph. Michael always tried to be the perfect husband, which resulted in the suffering of their marriage. Eventually their marriage had become a mixture of joy and regret, as on one-hand, he would buy Mitchell gifts, take her on long romantic walks and made her feel special. But on the other hand, she always felt trapped and smothered by his affectionate and supportive ways. She knew their marriage would one day end in disaster.

On the night of December 11 2000, Mitchell was sitting up in bed, whilst Barryman slept next to her. She was sick and tired of his irritating loud snores and felt apathetic about their marriage. She knew that she could not last another day with being married to someone she no longer respected. As she looked down at him, she decided that enough was enough and held a pillow over his face. He woke up and tried to fight his way to freedom, but eventually lost too much oxygen and became unconscious. Mitchell waited until it was evident that he had passed away, before lifting the pillow above his face and calling for her adopted son Sean to dispose of the body. Their marriage ended the exact same way she knew it would.

## Trial and imprisonment

On 23 April 2001, Dora Mitchell went to trial at Stafford Crown Court. Her trial made international headlines. Prosecutors stated that the motive for the killing of two of her ex-husbands was to try and stop them from leaving her. Mitchell, however, testified in her own defence that Stephen Thompson and Joseph Shortman had been violent towards her during their marriage. According to her, the reason for killing her third husband Michael Barryman, was because she became increasingly uninterested in him and wanted their marriage to end. She claimed that her father had abused her during her childhood which led her to kill. After twelve hours of jury deliberation, she was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

In November 2002, a psychiatrist diagnosed Mitchell with schizophrenia and a borderline personality disorder. In July 2008, after having served seven years in prison, Mitchell escaped from Drake Hall prison in Stafford. After just four days, she was captured in the home of her adopted son Sean Shortman, who admitted to informing the police of her whereabouts. She was ultimately not charged with absconding.

## Trivia

She was originally called Doro Gandy, but the writer Tony Williams changed it, due to not liking how it sounded.

She is loosely based on Jane Andrews.