Dr Harold Shipman, the GP jailed for killing 15 patients, has been struck off by his local health authority and stripped of his salary.

West Pennine Health Authority seized advantage of new regulations, announced in the Commons by Health Secretary Alan Milburn, allowing it to strike a convicted murderer off its medical list.

Dr Shipman, 54, who was sentenced on Monday at Preston Crown Court to life imprisonment, is now effectively banned from practising as an NHS doctor following the action under the new NHS (General Medical Services) Amendment.

But any decision to strike him off the national medical register would have to be taken by the General Medical Council.

A spokesman for the health authority said that unless it had acted, Dr Shipman would have been entitled to a steady income while behind bars.

Payments cease

"Any payments to Harold Shipman cease from today," he said.

"Before these regulations were introduced, even in the case of a murder conviction, a health authority had to apply to an NHS Tribunal.

"This is a process which can take several weeks.

"During this time a health authority was legally obliged to continue making payments to any suspended GP until they were officially removed from the medical list."

Dr Shipman was found guilty of murdering 15 of his female patients by injecting them with diamorphine - the medical name for heroin.

But investigators believe he may have killed up to 130, making him the worst serial killer in British history.

The health authority spokesman added that locum arrangements for Shipman's former practice in Hyde will continue until further notice.