Tim Downs, director of Aberfield Communications, recalls his first big job in journalism – the case of Dr Harold Shipman, Britain’s worst serial killer.
A new documentary marking 20 years since the arrest of prolific serial killer Dr Harold Shipman is being aired on ITV this week.
It’s also 20 years since I started my career in journalism, and my first big job happened to be the Shipman case.
Back in 1998, I entered the working world as a cub reporter with the Cavendish Press news agency in Manchester.
Cavendish Press was a long-standing and highly-respected news agency, a mainstay of the Manchester media scene long before MediaCity was even conceived. At a time when TV and print still dominated media output and consumption, stories from agencies such as Cavendish were in high demand.
The agency was led by Brian Whittle, a legendary newspaperman with a fearsome reputation and a dogged determination I hadn’t experienced before or since. Having gained a work placement at Cavendish during my journalism degree, I returned to the North West after graduating and, while deciding what to do next, was summoned by Brian and told to start the next week. It was more of an instruction than a request!
Little did I realise as a green 21-year-old that the first story I’d cut my teeth on would be one of the biggest news stories most of us can remember.
