It was reported early in 2000 that the police were investigating 192 deaths. Although they had enough evidence to prosecute in at least 23 cases, it was decided not to prosecute. The decision was made on the basis that due to the publicity surrounding the original prosection and convictions for the first 15 cases, a fair trial would not be possible. Whilst some relatives were OK with the decision — you can't hang a dog twice — others were angry and called for a full Public Inquiry. It was announced that an inquiry led by Lord Laming, would be sitting in private and a report was to be expected by September 2000.
An appeal to have the inquiry made public was successful.
The Goverment finally agreed to a public inquiry and Lord Laming resigned.
The inquiry was to be held under the auspices of the 1912 Tribunal of Inquiry (Evidence) Act. The last such inquiry held was the Dunblane inquiry in 1996.
In January 2001 it was annnounced that the High Court judge, Dame Janet Smith would chair the new inquiry.
The enquiry was to be in three phases.
Further details see Dame Smith's Public Inquiry.
- The enquiry would consider how many patients were killed by Shipman, the means he used and the period over which they took place.
- The enquiry would examine the action of the statutory bodies and others involved in the investigations following the deaths.
- The enquiry would consider what steps should be taken to protect patients in the future.
Inquests into the deaths of former patients started in August 2000
On 16th August 2000, the coroner's verdict was that Sarah Ashworth had been unlawfully killed.
The same verdict was given following the inquests on Alice Kitchen and Elizabeth Mellor
More inquests took place in 2001.
In the first case of an inquest on someone who had been cremated, Hilda Hibbert, the coroner ruled that she had been unlawfully killed. Although forensic evidence wasn't available, the circumstantial evidence was so strong that no other verdict was deemed possible.
By April 2001 a total of 27 inquests had taken place. Only in two cases was an open verdict given, the coroner deciding that there was insufficent evidence to reach a verdict of unlawful killing.
The police had a list of a further 299 patients whom they believed may have been killed by Shipman. The Home Office have yet to decide whether there will be further inquests in these cases.
Meanwhile moves were afoot to have the surgery from which he operated moved to new premises. Many of Shipman's former patients would have liked to have stayed with Dr. Haz Lloyd, the locum who had been caring for them since Shipman's arrest. However, West Pennine Health Authority said they could only hand the practice over to a local doctor who was on their list of principal GPs.
West Pennine Health Authority transferred the 2,800 patient list to the practice led by Dr. Amy Cumming. From October 3rd 2000, the patients came under the care of GP Lisa Gutteridge, based at the surgery in Great Norbury Street. Dr. Haz Lloyd has not joined that practice. The move was opposed by the 21 Market Street Action Group — a group of former Shipman patients loyal to Dr. Lloyd.
In January 2001 the Department of Health published a report by Professor Richard Baker. He had undertaken a clinical review of deaths under Dr. Shipman from 1974 when he was practicing in Todmorden until 1998 when he was at the Donneybrook practice. The report reveals that there were almost 300 more deaths among his patients than among those of other doctors. Clusters of deaths being reported in the early afternoon, occuring unexpectedly to mainly elderly women patients, suggests that many of these were probably the result of murderous intervention on the part of the doctor. It is also clear that his killing spree did not start when he opened up his one-man practice on Market Street, but that he had been murdering patients at the practice in Todmorden and whilst a member of the Donneybrook team.
As a result of the report, the police added 62 cases to the number under active investigation.
West Yorkshire police investigated all the 22 deaths which occurred in Todmorden during Shipman's time there.
The Smith Inquiry has its own offical website at http://www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk/.
The Victim Support Services in Tameside have a website at http://www.victimsupport-tameside.co.uk/.
The Tameside Advertiser website is carrying reports on the inquiry.
A comprehensive set of web-pages on the case can be found at The Guardian Unlimited
Yahoo! News - Harold Shipman Murder Case is a another collection of news reports.
The BBC's coverage can be seen on its In Depth website.
The Murder by Poison site has a page reporting on the Shipman case.
Before suggesting any other links, please see our policy document on links
On January 13th 2004, Shipman hanged himself in his cell at Wakefield Jail. He never broke his silence about why he committed so many murders.
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