- guardian.co.uk, Friday July 8 2005 08.52 BST
Three doctors who signed cremation forms for serial killer Harold Shipman were cleared of professional misconduct yesterday.
The doctors were accused of failing to notice "extraordinary coincidences" between the timing of Shipman's home visits and patient deaths.
Doctors Jeremy Dirckze, Stephen Farrar and Alastair MacGillivray all worked in surgeries close to the GP's practices in Hyde, Greater Manchester, and regularly countersigned cremation forms filled out by him.
They were accused of professional misconduct and faced being struck off the medical register.
But they were cleared by the General Medical Council's fitness to practise panel at a hearing in Manchester. The panel has still to decide on a similar charge against a fourth doctor, Susan Booth.
Two other doctors were cleared when the case against them collapsed last December.
All six doctors had signed Form Cs, which verify the details of a patient's death before a body is released for cremation. Between them the six GPs signed 240 Form Cs for Shipman in 18 years. Of these, 124 patients were later ruled to have been unlawfully killed.
Last week, Dr Dirckze, who signed 35 of the forms and was accused of professional misconduct in relation to 12 of them, told the hearing that he had trusted Shipman "implicitly".
