Some of the relatives of Harold Shipman's victims have been giving their reaction today to the findings of the official inquiry into his crimes, which confirmed him as Britain's worst serial killer.

Jane Ashton-Hibbert, 35, whose grandmother, Hilda Hibbert , 81, was killed by Shipman in 1996, while he was a GP in Hyde, Greater Manchester, told a news conference: "I suppose we should be shocked by the figures but it was evident from the start that there were going to be more than a 100 cases, and they were going to be strong cases."

She added: "I'm glad the families have had individual verdicts and have been able to come to some sort of finality."

But Ms Ashton-Hibbert, who has lived in Hyde all her life, said: "It makes me really angry that he's put this black cloud over our town." She said she could not reconcile the doctor who looked after her family, and who helped with her own pregnancy, with the reality that he was a murderer.

Peter Wagstaff, whose mother Kathleen, 81, was also among Shipman 's victims, told the news conference that the families still wanted him to speak about why he did what he did.

Mr Wagstaff said: "I think all the psychologists in the world have been looking at this and have not managed to come up with an answer . . . It is very difficult to come to terms with. You can't make sense of it at all . . . you are dealing with one of the most evil men in history."

He added that there were a lot of "secondary victims" in the form of families and friends of those who had been murdered. He said: "Everybody [in Hyde] knows somebody involved." But he added: "Communities are strong, they do recover."

A solicitor acting for some of the families said that today was a vindication of their fight for a public inquiry, and said it should be remembered the government did not originally want it to be an open inquiry. She said a desire for lessons to be learned had been the motivation for the inquiry, not matters like compensation.

She added that a main concern of the families was how the system failed to detect the doctor's crimes, and how there were particular anxieties about the role of the general medical council.

Christopher Rudol had it confirmed earlier this week that his father, Ernest, had been killed by the Hyde GP. He said it had been a relief to have the letter drop through his door, putting an end to years of waiting and uncertainty.

He told PA news: "The wait has been horrendous. Every part of the investigation, you have to get out the records and the photographs and it brings it all back. Instead of being able to push it to the back of your mind, you have to go through it all over again."

Mr Rudol said it was just "unfortunate" that Shipman had been his father's doctor. He said: "Shipman had been his GP for as long as I can remember. He worshipped him and admired him. He was a wonderful GP until the end."

Now, nearly four years after his father's death in 1998, he finally feels he can begin to get on with the rest of his life. "That's what we have been waiting for for three-and-a-half years," he said.

He added: "I always felt that Shipman was locked up for killing 15 people, but he was not locked up for killing my father. A lot of people said he was locked up for life, it does not matter, but it does for me because he has not been locked up for killing my father."