Harold Shipman, the GP sentenced to life for murdering 15 of his women patients, has been moved from Strangeways jail in Manchester.

The Prison Service would not disclose where Shipman, 54, is now but he is understood to have been transferred on Monday to Frankland Prison in County Durham.

Shipman was taken to Strangeways after his conviction at Preston Crown Court eight days ago.

But it was decided he should be moved after it became known that the mother of two prison officers at the jail could have been another victim of the GP.

He would normally have remained at the Manchester jail for a period of assessment to decide where he should serve his sentence, which the trial judge, Mr Justice Morland, said should be for the rest of his life.

"There were unusual circumstances because of the two prison officers involved and it was decided he had to be moved," said a Prison Service source.

Prison authorities will now decide in what category Shipman should be placed and where it would be appropriate for him to be moved in the long term.

It is understood he objected to the move to Durham because of the distance his family would have to travel on visits.

'Suicide watch'

Despite his crimes and the fact he is under investigation for another 160 possible murders, Shipman will not be placed automatically in Category A, the grading of the most dangerous prisoners in the system.

"It is more a matter of what sort of danger he would pose and whether there was a risk of escape," said the source.

On arrival at Strangeways, Shipman, of Roe Cross Green, Mottram, near Hyde, Greater Manchester, would have been placed on "suicide watch".

It was revealed on Monday that since his conviction, after a four-month trial, worried relatives of another 34 women patients have come forward fearing they could have been murdered by the GP.