THE BODY of a 67-year-old woman was exhumed from a Greater Manchester cemetery yesterday by detectives investigating Dr Harold Shipman, the GP charged with murdering four of his patients.
Irene Turner's body was removed from her grave in Hyde Cemetery in the early hours of the morning. She is the seventh of Dr Shipman's former patients to be exhumed as part of the suspicious deaths inquiry, which now includes 116 cases and is the largest investigation of its kind in British history.
Hours later, the 52-year-old doctor, who ran a sole practice in Hyde, was committed for trial by magistrates in Ashton-under-Lyne charged with murdering a former mayoress of the town, 81-year-old Kathleen Grundy.
He is also charged with forging and using a false will, making him the only beneficiary of her pounds 300,000 estate.
Police are planning to exhume two more bodies, that of Alice Kitchen, who died aged 70 in 1994, and Jean Lilley, who died last year, aged 58.
Dr Shipman is being held on remand at Walton jail, Liverpool, during the inquiry.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
0Comments