Public hearings set to resume in Shipman inquiry

The public inquiry into the crimes of Harold Shipman is resuming its public hearings as it tries to assess how many victims died at the former doctor's hands.

Following its summer recess the inquiry - headed by Dame Janet Smith - will continue investigating the deaths of at least 407 patients of the former GP from Hyde, Greater Manchester.

It had already heard evidence in a total of 71 cases - including the deaths of 15 women for which Shipman had been convicted and those deaths for which unlawful killing verdicts had been reached at inquests.

That evidence included 40 witnesses and more than 300 statements or documents.

Evidence in at least a further 336 cases is due to be heard at Manchester Town Hall before the end of the inquiry's first phase around Christmas.

Throughout the summer, the work of the inquiry team has continued unabated with preparation of the remaining cases for consideration.

About a million pages from documents relating to Shipman's career have been fed into system installed for the inquiry.

The team has also had to organise and take statements from more than 1,000 witnesses and search up to 40,000 coroner's files for any indication that Shipman was involved in yet more deaths.

As part of the team's work since the last public hearing in July, an advert has even been placed in several newspapers in a bid to trace the relatives of some of Shipman's former patients.

Monday's public hearings will focus on deaths while Shipman was practising alone at Market Street, Hyde.