Nurse failed to report Shipman stealing

A NURSE who worked alongside serial killer Harold Shipman for three years broke down in tears yesterday as she explained why she had not reported the former GP for stealing controlled drugs.

Shipman sidestepped strict guidelines to build up a stockpile of diamorphine, the medical term for heroin, before using it to kill more than 200 of his patients.

Yesterday, a district nurse wept as she told the inquiry into his crimes of how she confronted him over a number of missing ampoules of the drug but then failed to report him because she trusted him.

Marion Gilchrist worked as a district nurse caring for Shipman's patients in Hyde, Greater Manchester, between 1995 and his arrest in 1998.

On one occasion in July 1998, while visiting one of Shipman's patients, John Henshall, at his home, she noticed there were a number of missing ampoules of diamorphine.

Confronting the GP at his surgery, she told the Shipman Inquiry at Manchester Town Hall, he told her two improbable stories to explain away the missing drugs.

He then claimed he had "borrowed" 100mg of diamorphine from a colleague to administer to Mr Henshall one weekend and later taken some out of Mr Henshall's supply to repay the loan.

"It was as if he really, really cared about people," she said.

Shipman, 57, is serving life after his conviction in January 2000 for the murders of 15 patients. The inquiry said he had claimed the lives of at least 215 of his patients.