GP who revelled in black humour

HAROLD Shipman displayed a sick and twisted sense of humour when dealing with the families of his victims.

When he was asked in February 1998 how long cancer sufferer Harold Eddleston had to live, Shipman replied: “I wouldn’t buy him any Easter eggs.”

Shipman killed Mr Eddleston four days later.

In her findings, Dame Janet said: “Many of the families of Shipman’s victims report that his usually kind and sympathetic attitude disappeared when their relative had died.

“They would naturally be very distressed. He would be curt and dismissive and would sometimes say the most inappropriate and hurtful things.”

After killing Mary Coutts in April 1997, he was asked about the circumstances and Shipman replied:

“Well, I don’t believe in keeping them going.”

When 72-year-old Edith Brady collapsed and died in Shipman’s surgery, he told her family:

“The only way that she’s going to leave here is with the help of (undertakers) Robinson and Jordan.”

The GP’s youngest victim was a 41-year-old man suffering from cancer who had returned home from hospital to die.

Peter Lewis was visited by Shipman, accompanied by his wife Primrose, at his home in Briardene, Denton, Tameside, on January 2, 1985.

Family members found the GP with one hand round Mr Lewis’s throat, saying to him something like: “Give up lad, we’ve all had enough.”

The inquiry has concluded that Mr Lewis had probably died shortly after Shipman had given him an injection.