At least 466 deaths will be investigated by the public inquiry into the British serial killer GP Harold Shipman, the inquiry chairwoman, High Court judge Dame Janet Smith, announced last week.
Dame Janet said that the inquiry would try to contact relatives of a further 152 former patients, for whom death certificates were signed by Shipman but relatives raised no concerns.
Speaking to relatives of known and suspected victims of the GP at a public meeting in Manchester ahead of the start of the inquiry next month, she said she would try to reach individual decisions on each suspicious death. The number of 466 could increase, but the figure should not be seen as an estimate of the number of his victims, she emphasised.
“I anticipate there will be many cases in which I will be able to say there is no cause for suspicion. However, it will not be possible in every case for me to say one way or the other. Much will depend on the availability of the evidence.”
Shipman had been asked to assist the inquiry, but his solicitors had indicated that he did not wish to be involved, she said. She was not prepared to say whether she would compel him to attend hearings.
She said that the home secretary had granted permission for inquests into the deaths of 260 patients, which were among those to be investigated by the inquiry. The inquests would be adjourned after opening, and the coroner would be able to amend the death certificates in the light of the inquiry's interim report without the need for the inquests to be resumed.
Shipman, now aged 55, Britain's most prolific serial killer, was convicted last year of murdering 15 middle aged and elderly women patients with fatal injections of diamorphine. Police had enough evidence to charge him with another 24 murders, but the director of public prosecutions decided that another trial would not be in the public interest. An audit of his practice last year concluded that the most likely number of victims was 236.
Last week the former GP was questioned by detectives for more than 30 hours over the deaths of nine patients from Todmorden, West Yorkshire, where he practised from 1974 to 1976.
The inquiry, to be held at Manchester Town Hall, is expected to take two years. Dame Janet said that she hoped to deliver an interim report by the end of the year and a full report with recommendations on steps to be taken to protect future patients by spring 2003.
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MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
Dame Janet Smith said that she would not be able to say in every case whether there was any cause for suspicion