Coroner to give verdict on patient deaths

A coroner will give his verdicts today following inquests into the deaths of three patients of a family GP.

Dr Howard Martin, 76, was cleared of murdering Stanley Weldon, 74, Frank Moss, 59, and Harry Gittins, 74, by administering lethal doses of morphine following a trial in 2005.

He practised in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, but retired to North Wales after the men died between March 2003 and January 2004.

Coroner Andrew Tweddle took two weeks to consider the verdicts he will give at a hearing at Bishop Auckland Magistrates' Court.

When he reopened the three inquests last month, he said Dr Martin was "not on trial in any shape, way or form".

Dr Martin, of Penmaenmawr, Gwynedd, still faces an inquiry at a future date by the General Medical Council.