THERE was a moment when the Rev Ian Johnson was forced to call his own judgement into question.

He had worked alongside Dr Harold Shipman for several years during his time as rector in the communities of Denton and Haughton, in Greater Manchester.

They were very alike... on the surface. Both men had familiar grey beards and wore glasses. They both, so it seemed, wanted to help others.

It is likely that Mr Johnson buried some of Shipman's victims as he was the local rector.

Even when police began investigating the unusually high number of deaths, he was still disbelieving.

In fact, the possibility seemed so far from the truth that he even spoke out publicly on Shipman's behalf.

Only when he was charged with murder - he is thought to have claimed more than 200 lives - did he call his own judgement into question.

Shipman, known as Dr Death, hanged himself in his prison cell in January 2004.

And only then did Mr Johnson finally break his silence about the time he spent working alongside Britain's biggest mass murderer.

He told the Daily Echo: "Who would ever dream that a local GP with whom one worked, who was on the local scene, would not be what they seemed?

"I didn't know a mass murderer, I knew a local GP who was very helpful and I will hang on to that.

"Now I think it is very important that we think of him as unique if we are going to maintain any sort of civilised society.

"Once we start to think badly and suspect there is evil in people we have had it."

Mr Johnson maintains that his experiences at that time within the communities in which he served have made him the person he is today.

"I feel we and the NHS have learnt from the Shipman case, to the point we can now benefit from that whole terrible saga.

"It is the only good to come from something so wicked.

"It's very much part of my history and not my present."