A pharmacist who supplied Harold Shipman with the diamorphine he used to kill some of his 250 victims did not see it as her job to query the unusual dosages he asked for, a disciplinary committee heard yesterday.

A register of controlled drugs showed that Shipman obtained the diamorphine by prescribing it for patients who were already dead.

Ghislaine Brant, who managed Battersby's Pharmacy next door to Shipman's practice in Market Street, Hyde, near Manchester, was criticised in the fourth report of the long-running inquiry into Shipman's murderous career for failing to spot the frequency of his drug demands in a six-month period.

Mrs Brant, who still works at the pharmacy, now run by Co-op Healthcare, could be struck off if she is found guilty of misconduct following the hearing before the statutory committee of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Shipman collected doses of diamorphine from Mrs Brant on 13 or 14 occasions between February 22 1993 and August 27 1993. The committee alleges that the 30mg dosages he asked for were a "most unusual amount of diamorphine" and heard that they would be lethal for someone not accustomed to the drug.

The committee heard that Mrs Brant trusted Shipman. Alison Foster, the committee's counsel, said: "Mrs Brant could not have known these drugs were used to kill patients."

The hearing continues today.