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. He was hanging from bedsheets roped together and looped through the bars of his prison cell. A prison spokesman said that attempts at resuscitation were made but he was pronounced dead at around 8.10am.

While at Wakefield, Shipman had been on "normal regime", prison authorities have said. The serial murderer had been placed on suicide watch on two previous occasions prior to his transfer to the prison last year, however, his behaviour of late did not suggest that the former GP was suicidal, a spokesperson said. The government has confirmed that incoming Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Stephen Shaw, will carry out an investigation into the circumstances of Shipman's death.

It has been reported today that the former GP, who would have celebrated his 58th birthday tomorrow, had been planning to appeal his convictions. Shipman had always his maintained his innocence.

In July 2002, a public inquiry set up following Shipman's conviction, found that he was responsible for the deaths of 215 people – of whom, the oldest was a 93-year-old woman and the youngest a 47-year-old man. However, Dame Janet Smith, the High Court judge who headed the inquiry, said that the circumstances surrounding the deaths of a further 45 patients in Shipman's care led her to believe that the total number of victims may be as high as 260. In all, the inquiry considered the cases of 888 patients who died in his care while he worked at practices in Todmorden and Hyde in the Greater Manchester area.

Following his three-month trial at Preston Crown Court, Home Secretary David Blunkett ruled that Harold Shipman would spend the rest of his life in prison.

It is thought that Shipman committed his first murder in March 1975 while working in Todmorden. He was eventually arrested in September 1998 for the murder of 81-year-old Kathleen Grundy. Suspicions were first raised by Mrs Grundy's daughter and police subsequently found that the victim's will, naming Shipman as a benefactor to her £386,000 estate, was a forgery.

Dame Janet Smith's report found that Harold Shipman was "addicted to murder", having abused his position of trust in the community to kill his patients, typically through a lethal injection of diamorphine. He enriched himself either by persuading patients to include him in the will, or by forging the necessary documents.

Shipman's death will be an embarrassment for the prison service, moreso given Soham murderer Ian Huntley's suicide attempt while on remand and the death of Fred West, who also hanged himself while awaiting trial for the murders of 12 people.

(gmcg)