Shipman inquiry's quest for truth

Harold Shipman was convicted of killing 15 patients

A public inquiry into the deaths of 466 patients of the serial killer Dr Harold Shipman has opened at Manchester Town Hall.

The chairwoman, Dame Janet Smith, a widely-experienced High Court judge, has warned that she may not be able to rule in every case whether or not there is a cause for suspicion.

Relatives want to discover how the doctor managed to get away with his killing spree for some 24 years.

Dame Janet Smith: To investigate 466 deaths

Expected to cost millions of pounds, the inquiry is unprecedented in National Health Service and judicial terms.

An interim report is expected from Dame Janet within a year.

The first phase of her investigation is considering how many patients were murdered by Doctor Shipman, how he committed the murders and over what sort of period the killings took place.

Harold Shipman, now serving 15 life sentences in Frankland prison in County Durham, made it clear he would not co-operate.

He could have been forced to appear, but Dame Janet decided it would serve no purpose.

Horrific statistics

There have been suggestions that the inquiry may want to interview his wife, Primrose.

She attended each day of her husband's trial at Preston Crown Court, but she has never spoken in public, or to police, about his crimes.

Mrs Shipman regularly visits her husband in prison and was with him during the three years that he practised in Todmorden in West Yorkshire before he started working at Hyde in Great Manchester in 1977.

Primrose Shipman could give the inquiry an insight that no other investigation has managed to record.

The statistics of the GP's murderous career are horrific and Dame Janet says the inquiry is charged with attempting "to put an end to the uncertainty that has prevailed for so long and has caused so much distress".

Shipman killed using diamorphine injections

The deaths of 466 patients is the official starting point, but that figure may rise.

Relatives of another 152 former patients, where there is very little evidence to assess, will also be contacted.

Dr Shipman was convicted of killing 15 patients using injections of diamorphine, better known as heroin.

Inquests have decided that another 25 patients were unlawfully killed.

Interim report

Once the first part of the inquiry is concluded, Dame Janet will examine the actions by organisations and individuals involved in the procedures and investigations that followed the deaths.

This is to discover how the doctor got away with it.

It means interviewing the medical practitioners Dr Shipman worked with, the coroners, the registrars and the police officers who had a role in certifying death and authorising cremation and reporting or investigating sudden deaths.

Phase three of the inquiry will include recommendations for checks and balances, perhaps even legislation, that should ensure there could never be another Harold Shipman operating from a doctor's surgery.

Relatives of his victims fought hard for the inquiry to be heard in public and two large TV screens in the library in Hyde allow them to watch proceedings without leaving their home town.

Transcripts of each day's hearing will be placed on the inquiry's own website at www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk