Forensic pathologist reveals what's most likely to kill you and why it could come from a friend or relative

A forensic pathologist has opened up about why the person who is most likely to kill you is someone close to you.

Dr Richard Shepherd is a forensic pathologist in the UK, and has worked on some of the highest profile court cases of the last 30 years.

Pathologists examine someone after they have died, and frequently work with courts including criminal courts and coroners' courts.

Despite working on some of the most widely publicised deaths, Dr Shepherd revealed that he has been more professionally interested in other aspects of the job.

Of course in that time he has also worked on a large number of murder cases, providing expert analysis to help determine how someone has died.

Analysis of an injury might also give insight on the circumstances, for example whether someone intended to kill when attacking someone, or if they had been defending themselves by raising their hands up.

Among the cases Dr Shepherd worked on was that of Princess Diana (Bettmann/Contributor/Getty)

Explaining why he became a pathologist, he told LADbible Stories: "It just amazed me that doctors could help the police and the courts to establish why people had died.

"I thought doctors made people better, that's what doctors did, but suddenly here was another role for doctors that really really interested me."

But when it comes to murders, he shared that in the UK there was one manner of death which far outstripped all others in terms of how often it came up.

"If we're thinking about murders, it's stabbings," he said. "They are the commonest cause of death."

Another factor in murder is also who it is that is most likely to attack you, and he made clear that it is less likely to be a random person in the street.

"The person most likely to stab you is a friend or a relative," he said.

When you think about it, this does make sense - not only do you spend more time around people close to you, but relationships can unfortunately break down, and people can lash out.

While he has worked on many high profile cases, including the death of Princess Diana, Dr Shepherd revealed that these are not the cases which stay with him the most.

"The high profile ones are high profile because it's a famous person, there's lots of celebrities die, but they die often in rather banal and boring ways," he said.

"If I'm going to pick on cases that are important, it's cases where I'm dealing with people privately and helping them through their grief, not the major world trade, Princess Diana, they're important, but they're not the ones that stick with me."