Shipman inquiry under way

Conducting inquiry: prison ombudsman Stephen Shaw

Harold Shipman arrogantly proclaimed his innocence hours before he committed suicide in his cell, the Evening Standard can reveal today.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that the GP murdered at least 215 of his patients, he told a fellow prisoner: "No one believes me. I'm innocent, just look at the facts. I did not do it."

As the mystery deepened over why he killed himself, Shipman's lawyer claimed his client had every reason to live because he was certain he could prove his innocence at an appeal.

But prison sources told the Standard that they believed Shipman had planned his suicide for "weeks if not months" and had thrown up a "smokescreen" to make sure nobody would guess his intentions.

"He seems to have been driven by the desire to control, and had a plan to ensure that he could kill himself when he chose," said the source.

There was no end to the agony of his victims' families today as they came to terms with the certainty that they will never know why Shipman killed their loved ones.

And for the first time the scale of compensation paid out by the Government to the families of the 215 people an inquiry found were definitely killed by Shipman was revealed.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has given just £11,000 to each family, setting aside £2.36 million for the total bill.

Shipman, who would have been 58 today, made a six-minute phone call to his wife Primrose just before he was locked up in his cell in the Category A wing of Wakefield prison for the last time on Monday night.

The call, which was taped, has been transcribed by prison officers to discover if it contains any coded message to his 54-year-old wife.

She remains in denial over her husband's crime - but today a family rift over Shipman's guilt can be revealed for the first time.

A friend, who visited her at her home in the village of Walshford, North Yorkshire, days before the suicide told how she had defended her husband's innocence in the face of opposition from her own sons.

The man said: "It was well known here that Primrose had convinced herself of her husband's innocence. But her sons would argue furiously with her about the subject."

Today prison sources said it was clear that Shipman had a "master plan" and had worked out what warning signs of suicide prison officers had been warned to look out for so he could evade them.

Insubordination, which he was found guilty of over the Christmas period, might have formed part of his plan, said the source, adding: "He may well have done that as a distraction, to make officers think that he was behaving like a normal prisoner."

But Shipman's lawyer Giovanni di Stefano said the GP had been "looking forward" to arguing his appeal and said: "I simply cannot accept that Harold Shipman was in any kind of mental state to take his own life."

Prisons ombudsman Stephen Shaw arrived at Wakefield prison this morning to begin an inquiry into Shipman's suicide.

Mr Shaw is to concentrate on whether there were any missed signs that the killer would commit suicide.

He will also investigate a key warning in which a probation officer said there were fears Shipman would commit suicide if his appeal failed. But Mr Shaw will also investigate a series of wider questions, including whether there should be special suicide watches for all high-profile prisoners.

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