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A nurse who worked with serial killer Harold Shipman for three years wept as she explained why she had not reported him for stealing controlled drugs.
Shipman avoided strict medical guidelines to build up a stockpile of diamorphine which he then used to kill more than 200 of his patients.
Marion Gilchrist, a district nurse, told the public inquiry into Shipman's crimes she had confronted him over the missing drugs but did not report him because of her trust in him.
She had cared for the former GP's patients in Hyde, Greater Manchester, between 1995 and his arrest in 1998.
Shipman, 57, was jailed for life in January 2000 at Preston Crown Court for murdering 15 of his patients.
The inquiry, at Manchester Town Hall, has already found he killed at least 215 of his patients over 23 years - both in Hyde and Todmorden, West Yorkshire, where he also practised.
Mrs Gilchrist told the inquiry on Thursday she had noticed some diamorphine was missing when she visited the home of his patient John Henshall in July 1998.
When she confronted Shipman at his surgery he told her he had borrowed 100mg of the drug from a colleague to give to Mr Henshall and later taken some out of his patient's supply to pay back the loan.
In a statement to the inquiry, she said: "I felt I was being bamboozled by him.
"I did not report Shipman because I didn't think he had done anything wrong.
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"I thought that [Shipman] wanted the best for his patients, not only in life but when they were dying. It was as if he really, really cared about people " |
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Marion Gilchrist |
Broke down
"He was robbing Peter to pay Paul. It was bending the rules but not doing anything wrong."
She then broke down in tears as she explained how she had been "devastated" when the police told her Shipman had used the drugs to murder his patients.
She said: "When my manager warned me about the things they were going to tell me I just said 'no, no, no, no, no'. It was awful.
"I thought that he wanted the best for his patients, not only in life but when they were dying.
"He seemed to want to manage patients' pain and symptoms.
"It was as if he really, really cared about people."
Dame Janet Smith, who is chairing the inquiry, told Mrs Gilchrist that Shipman's last victim had died a month before he stole the drugs from Mr Henshall.
The inquiry is continuing.
Content provided by ArmMed Media
Revision date: 12 December 2007
Last revised by Amalia K. Gagarina, M.S., R.D.
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