EVIL doctor Harold Shipman murdered 215 patients and started his killing spree in Todmorden, the official inquiry revealed today.

Eva Lyons, 70, was the first of Shipman's victims just a year after he entered general practice in Todmorden.

He then went on to kill 214 in Hyde, Greater Manchester, making him Britain's worst serial killer.

A total of 30 deaths from Todmorden from 1974-75 were investigated but only that of Mrs Lyons, who died at her home, was proved to be have been carried out by Shipman.

Dame Janet Smith, a High Court judge, who has been hearing evidence since June last year at Manchester Town Hall, delivered decisions in 494 cases.

She decided that the first of Shipman's victims was Mrs Lyons, who he murdered in March 1975 while at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Practice in Todmorden.

Another 71 patients were killed during Shipman's time at the Donneybrook House group practice in Hyde, and the remaining 143 were murdered at Shipman's single-handed practice that he set up in Market Street, Hyde, in 1992.

Of his victims, 171 were women and 44 were men, with the oldest being 93-year-old Ann Cooper and the youngest 41-year-old Peter Lewis.

The judge said in her six-volume, 2,000 page report: "There are 45 deaths for which I have found that a real suspicion arises that Shipman may have been responsible, although the evidence is not sufficiently clear for me to reach a positive conclusion that he was.

"In addition, there are a further 38 deaths in respect of which there was so little evidence, or evidence of such poor quality, that I was unable to form any view at all."

The inquiry examined a total of 888 cases. Dame Janet said there was "compelling evidence" in 394 of them that Shipman was not responsible for the death. Today, Todmorden councillor Clare Townley revealed she was a patient of Shipman's when she was 12. Clare, who is now 39, said today: "I was ill at the same time as my grandmother. We had flu or something like that and Shipman came to treat us both.

"We were in beds close to each other and I often think what could have happened if I had not been there. It could have affected me. I can vaguely remember him. He seemed friendly and was laughing and joking and kept calling me Fred which made me laugh. Now I know he called everybody Fred and that is why everyone else called him Fred.

"It most be awful for the families affected. Not knowing all that time. They have been grieving for someone who has died in what they think is natural circumstances and 20 years later it opens up all old wounds. It is like they have been living a lie."

Shipman, now 56, was convicted at Preston Crown Court in January 2000 of the murders of 15 of his mainly elderly women patients in Hyde, Greater Manchester.

In 1974 he became a GP in the Abraham Ormerod Medical Centre in Todmorden and a year later underwent psychiatric treatment for his addiction to a painkiller.

Councillor Michael Taylor, who has lived in Todmorden for 30 years, said: "I saw 'Fred' Shipman on numerous occasions as did my wife. He was a pillar of the community back then.

"There was nothing odd about him. That is the frightening thing.

"He was young, keen and enthusiastic about medicine. No-one could tell he would turn out to be a mass murderer."

At a news conference at Manchester Town Hall, Dame Janet said that the figure of 215 victims was "as complete and accurate" a figure of Shipman's crimes that may ever be published.

She said only Shipman himself could reveal the true extent of his crimes.