Killer doctor was able to bypass drugs checks

SYSTEMS that should have prevented British GP Harold Shipman from illegally obtaining vast quantities of the heroin with which he killed his victims failed to do so for more than two decades, the public inquiry into his crimes heard yesterday.

The hearing in Manchester, England, was told that Shipman freely got hold of the drug by either prescribing for terminally ill patients and never administering it to them or by over-prescribing.

He would also stockpile large quantities of diamorphine the medical term for heroin by taking it from patients' homes after their death, saying he was to dispose of it. On other occasions he would prescribe the drug for patients who had already died.