THE fourth report of the inquiry into serial killer GP Harold Shipman is due to be published today. The report focuses on systems for the management and regulation of controlled drugs and the conduct of those who operated the systems.

It also includes inquiry chairman Dame Janet Smith's recommended changes to the systems.

The report is to be submitted to the Houses of Commons and Lords and published on the internet. Dame Janet will hold a media briefing in Manchester at the same time.

Shipman killed at least 215 people by giving them lethal overdoses of diamorphine while working in Hyde, Greater Manchester, between 1975 and 1998.

He was jailed for life in 2000 after being found guilty of 15 counts of murder, but was found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison in January this year.

The fifth report of the inquiry is due to be published in autumn this year. It was due to be the final report but the inquiry has since announced plans to reinvestigate Shipman's time as a junior doctor in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

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