A grieving North Yorkshire man who lost his mother to Dr Harold Shipman today called for a shake-up in the medical profession to prevent more tragedies like his.

Heartbroken Richard Couzens of Chelmsford Road, Harrogate, said it was the single crucial lesson to be learned from the case of Dr Shipman.

The Manchester GP was convicted at Preston Crown Court yesterday of 15 murders,and police believe he committed more than a 100 others including that of Mr Couzen's mother, Hilda, in February 1993.

Mr Couzens told the Evening Press today: "The removal of self-regulation for doctors is the one thing I would like to see changed as a result of Shipman.

"I lost my mother as a result of the fact that doctors are not regulated by an independent body.

"There are so many cases these days of doctors with alcohol or drug problems or taking part in insurance scams - the profession just cannot go on like this.

"Until someone takes on this problem tragedies will continue to happen like this."

Health Secretary Alan Milburn was announcing an inquiry today into how Shipman was able to kill patients at will with a stockpile of drugs meant to be used to relieve the pain of dying cancer patients.

Shipman, 54, may have killed up to 130, making him the worst serial killer in British history, according to the authorities.

The married father-of-four, from Roe Cross Green, Mottram, near Hyde, Greater Manchester, who had convictions for stealing drugs to feed his own addiction in 1976, went on killing even after others raised the alarm about death rates at his Hyde surgery.

As Shipman awoke today in his cell in Manchester's Strangeways prison, facing the rest of his life behind bars, searching questions were being asked about the system of checks which monitors doctors.

Despite his convictions, received while working at a surgery in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, Shipman was allowed to stay in practice by the General Medical Council, the doctors' disciplinary body, which even decided it was in his own best interests to carry on working.

Angela Woodruff, the daughter of his last victim Kathleen Grundy - killed after police had launched an initial unsuccessful probe into Shipman's records - said the case "exposed disturbing weaknesses in the monitoring and certification of death and the handling of dangerous drugs".

Mrs Woodruff, a solicitor, said: "It's just awful the way that he abused the trust which all his patients had in him. It's evil."

Raj Patel, a doctor from another Hyde surgery who raised the alarm in March 1998 - three months before the death of Mrs Grundy - said today he initially became suspicious after undertakers expressed concern about the number of Shipman's patients who were dying.

Mr Patel contacted Coroner John Pollard and voiced his concerns, pointing out the high cremation rate for Shipman's elderly women patients.

Greater Manchester police mounted an inquiry, but failed to discover that Shipman had tampered with patients' computerised records after they died.

Shipman went on to claim three more victims.

Last night the West Pennine Health Authority, which covers the area in which Shipman practised, suspended its medical adviser Dr Alan Banks and said an earlier investigation into Shipman, which took place in March 1998, would now be re-examined.

During a 56-day trial, the jury heard how Shipman gave fatal morphine injections to 15 women aged between 49 and 81.

After the verdicts were read out an impassive Shipman, he was told that in his case 15 life sentences would mean life.

Mr Justice Forbes told the GP he had been guilty of "wicked, wicked crimes", adding: "I have little doubt each of your victims smiled and thanked you as she submitted to your deadly administrations."

Shipman's wife, Primrose, 52, who stood by him throughout, and three of his four children, Sarah 32, Christopher 28, and David, 20, were in the public gallery to see him convicted and sentenced before returning to the family home last night.

As the authorities grappled with the questions how, the question why remained more of a mystery.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Williams, who interviewed the GP, said: "He likes control, and the ultimate control is over life and death."

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