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Todmorden under the microscope

15/ 7/2002

FAMILIES in the small town where Harold Shipman began general practice were told by the Baker Report it's likely he killed there.

Shipman began working as a GP in the West Yorkshire town of Todmorden back in 1974.

Results of the government ordered audit to look into the work of the doctor showed the town was likely to have been the place where his killing began.

The report compared death rates at Shipman's practices with those of 10 other GP's working in the same areas at the same time.

It found that during his time in Todmorden, Shipman issued 22 death certificates - five in 1974 and 17 the following year - a higher figure than any of the doctors with whom he was compared.

When Shipman was sentenced to life-means-life for the murder of 15 women patients the focus was on Hyde as the place of mourning - that changed with the Baker Report.

Calder Valley MP Christine McCafferty said: "There are many people who thought Todmorden was safe and all the media and press attention, and indeed the previous inquiry, was in Hyde. So I think a lot of people today are surprised."