Shipman widow claims £10,000 jewellery hoard

Wedding rings belonging to the murder victims of Dr Harold Shipman may be given to the mass killer's widow, police said today.

Wedding rings belonging to the murder victims of Dr Harold Shipman may be given to the mass killer's widow, police said today.

Primrose Shipman has asked for a £10,000 hoard of jewellery to be given to her after the items were seized from the garage at the Shipman family home when the doctor was first arrested.

The 70 items of jewellery include a quantity of wedding rings and also necklaces, brooches, bracelets and earrings of varying value.

Police believe some of the items may have been stolen by Britain's biggest serial killer after injecting his victims with morphine overdoses. But unless the families of victims can prove the items belonged to their murdered loved ones, police must return the items to the killer's wife.

Shipman is estimated to have murdered at least 250 patients in a killing spree spanning two decades. He was found hanged in Wakefield Prison in January last year after being given 15 life sentences in January 2000.

Police have now written to 180 families urging them to try to identify the jewellery.

Detective Superintendent Steve Heywood, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "As part of the police investigation of Dr Harold Shipman that began in July 1998, officers seized a large quantity of jewellery from the garage of his home.

"Items that the Shipman family could prove belonged to them were returned. The remaining items have since been in the possession of Greater Manchester Police.

"No evidence was found to support the theory at the time that it was stolen property, but it has always been our unsubstantiated belief that some of that jewellery may have belonged to Shipman's victims.

"We recently received correspondence from a solicitors' firm acting on behalf of Mrs Primrose Shipman, asking for items seized during the investigation to be returned to her. Jewellery that cannot be positively identified will be returned to Dr Shipman's next of kin as required under the Police Property Act."

Police have contacted the families of Shipman's victims asking them to provide proof of ownership of the jewellery through a receipt for the item, photographic evidence of its existence or a detailed description of the item in question.