12/04/2005

Shipman told to hang himself, inmate claims

A fellow prisoner has claimed that serial killer Harold Shipman was told by a prison officer to "go and hang himself".

On the second day of the inquest into the death of the 57-year-old former GP, David Smith told Leeds Crown Court that he heard Shipman tell another inmate what the prison officer allegedly said to him.

Harold Shipman was found hanging in his cell in Wakefield Prison on January 13 last year, the day before his 58th birthday. He was convicted of murdering 15 of his patients in 2000, although an inquiry into his murders concluded that he probably killed around 250 patients between 1971 and 1998.

Smith, who said that Shipman had been his best friend in the prison, told the inquest that Shipman had claimed that prison staff were bullying him because he wouldn't talk to the officers.

Smith, who received a life sentence in 1999, told the inquest that he "couldn't see any suicidal tendencies" in Shipman.

Smith's claims follow the revelations of Shipman's widow, Primrose, who told the inquest yesterday that she had no indication that Shipman had intended to commit suicide.

The inquest continues.

(KmcA)


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The sixth report into the murders committed by former GP Harold Shipman has revealed that he murdered at least three patients during his years as a junior doctor, bringing the total toll to a possible 250.
11 April 2005
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25 August 2005
Shipman suicide ‘could not have been prevented’
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13 January 2004
Serial killer Shipman found dead in his cell
Harold Shipman, Britain's most prolific serial killer, has died in his cell this morning after he apparently hanged himself. Shipman, 57, who was jailed for life in 2000 for the murders of 15 people, was discovered by prison staff at Wakefield Prison at around 6.20am.
29 July 2003
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