Shipman murder investigation to be extended

The investigation into mass murderer Harold Shipman is being extended to the area where the doctor worked early in his career…

The investigation into mass murderer Harold Shipman is being extended to the area where the doctor worked early in his career, British police said tonight.

Detectives are to investigate all 22 deaths certified by Shipman when he worked as a GP in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, for 18 months during the 1970s.

Immediately after Shipman's conviction, Britain's Health Secretary, Mr Alan Milburn ordered a statistical audit of Shipman's clinical practice between 1974 and 1998.

"Following the publication of Professor Baker's report and continued media speculation, West Yorkshire police is widening its investigation to include all 22 patient deaths certified by Shipman during his time in Todmorden," a police spokesman said.

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Shipman worked in Todmorden between 1974 and 1976. He moved to Hyde in 1977 and stayed there until his arrest. He was convicted last year of murdering 15 women patients from his practice in Hyde.

Professor Baker found that the GP had an excess of 297 deaths compared with other doctors.

He also discovered that compared with other doctors' rates of patients dying at home, Shipman had an excess of 236 deaths, and was 25 times more likely to be present when a patient died than other local GPs.

Shipman gave the mostly elderly women lethal doses of diamorphine, the medical term for heroin.

PA