'I saved my mother from killer GP Harold Shipman'

Harold Shipman was found guilty of murdering 15 patients but is believed to have killed many more

Twenty five years after GP Harold Shipman became the UK's most prolific serial killer, residents of the town where he worked have told how his crimes will always leave their mark.

On 31 January 2000, Shipman was sentenced to 15 life terms for murdering 15 patients under his care, but a later inquiry concluded he had killed at least 215 people between the 1970s and the late 1990s.

Many of his victims were elderly women who were from the town of Hyde, Greater Manchester, and had died after he injected them with lethal doses of diamorphine.

One resident, Patricia Powell, said she believes she saved her mother's life by refusing to leave her alone with the GP in 1998, just a few months before he was arrested.

The 54-year-old GP's trial heard 15 women were killed by lethal opioid doses and he gained £386,000 by forging the will of one of them, 81-year-old Kathleen Grundy.

He was given 15 life sentences to run concurrently for the murders and four years for the forgery.

He took his own life in prison four years later.

According to the 2,000-page report that came out of the inquiry into Shipman's crimes, his first victim was Eva Lyons, who was killed the day before her 71st birthday in March 1975, while he was working at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Practice in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

Another 71 patients were murdered during his time working at the Donneybrook House group practice in Hyde.

The remaining 143 were murdered after 1992 when Shipman became a solo GP, working on Market Street in Hyde.

Harold Shipman's surgery was on Market Street in the centre of Hyde

Mrs Powell said her mother Margaret Beckwith, who was then aged 64, had an appointment with Shipman at his Market Street practice.

She said he had intended to give her mother medication and asked Ms Powell to leave the room so he could examine her.

However, she refused after feeling there was simply "something not right with him", the 62-year-old said.

"He went to give my mum some medication and I said 'she's not taking it'," she said.

"My mum asked me why and I said 'can't you see he's no good? He fobs people off by telling different stories'."

Ms Powell said she told Shipman "I'm sorry [but] I'm not leaving" and he eventually wrote a prescription before the pair left unharmed.

"Whatever he wanted to do backfired on him because I was there," she said.

Shipman was thought to have flown under the radar for so long after building a veneer of trust among his patients.

Ms Powell said nobody "wanted to listen in the doctor's surgery".

"They thought he was so wonderful," she said.

She said her mother only died recently and she was happy to have had all those years with her "because I took her away from him".

However, she added: "It wasn't fair on all the others that got murdered.

"I don't trust doctors any more."

Louise Aliceto described Shipman as a "horrible, evil man"

Many people in Hyde were part of Shipman's practice and regularly used his services.

Louise Aliceto said she had been his patient, but he "dismissed" her.

"I went to him once with a rash on my hand and he sent me away," she said.

"He said 'if everybody come to me with a rash on their hand this surgery would be always be full'."

The 61-year-old said she left thinking he was "a horrible person" and eventually discovered she had known some of his victims.

"He was a horrible, evil man to do that to people," she said.

Ian Whyatt described Shipman as an "arrogant" doctor who looked down on his patients

Ian Whyatt was Shipman's patient as a child and said he has friends whose family members were victims of the GP.

He described him as a "nasty, horrible person" who was "arrogant".

Now 57, Mr Whyatt said Shipman did not like it when patients thought they knew what was wrong with them.

"He was basically saying 'I will tell you what is wrong with you'," he said.

"He looked down on everybody as though you shouldn't be there,"

He said Shipman's crimes left people terrified of going to the doctors, with some even left too scared to have a flu injection.

"It took people time to get over it," he added.

Alan Braddock said Shipman had an unpleasant "aura" and he was not shocked to learn about his crimes

Alan Braddock was also one of Shipman's patients and said he "wasn't surprised" when the doctor's crimes were exposed.

He recalled Shipman telling him when he gave him a prescription: "Don't waste my time. Get it into a chemist."

The 84-year-old said there was "always something not quite right about him".

He added: "He had an aura and there was something about him that just didn't click."