MANCHESTER, July 19: British family doctor Harold Shipman murdered at least 215 of his patients, and possibly as many as 260, an official inquiry ruled on Friday.

The tally makes Shipman, dubbed Doctor Death, one of the worst serial killers in the world in the last century.

The government-backed inquiry in Manchester, northwest England, said Shipman was guilty of a “terrible betrayal of trust” and slammed inadequate controls which allowed him to kill so many during his murderous 24-year medical career.

“No one reading this report can fail to be shocked by the enormity of the crimes committed by Shipman and to feel, as I do, the deepest sympathy for his victims and their families,” said Judge Janet Smith, who headed the inquiry.

“His activities have brought tragedy upon them, and also upon the communities in which he practised and which gave him their trust.”

A second phase of the inquiry would now direct its efforts “to attempting to devise improved systems so as to ensure that such a terrible betrayal of trust by a family doctor can never happen again,” Smith added.

Shipman, 56, was jailed in January 2000 for life for murdering 15 elderly patients. Most of his victims were elderly women, who died in their own homes after being given an overdose of morphine.

The inquiry looked into 887 deaths of Shipman’s patients and one living patient. It found that he killed 200, in addition to the 15 for which he is already serving life in prison.

It added that there was a “real suspicion” that Shipman may have been responsible for an additional 45 deaths, although here the evidence was not clear enough to reach a positive conclusion.

Smith’s findings have legal status, which means that even though Shipman will not face another trial, the deaths she said he carried out are officially added to his list of crimes.

State prosecutors have decided that he should not be charged with any further murders because the publicity surrounding his current convictions means he would be unable to receive a fair, unbiased trial.

Home Secretary David Blunkett ruled earlier this month that the family doctor should never be released from prison, joining a select few prisoners who have been told they will die in jail.

Shipman’s motives remain a mystery, although it has been reported that he had been diagnosed as a classic necrophiliac, murdering his victims for the simple pleasure of watching people die.—AFP