THE trial of a retired doctor accused of murdering three of his patients is nearing an end.

Mr Justice Forbes has started summing up the case for the jury and is expected to continue today and tomorrow.

The jury of six men and six women is expected to retire to consider its verdicts on Friday or Monday.

Former County Durham GP Howard Martin, 71, who lives in Gwynned, north Wales, denies murdering patients Frank Moss, 59, Stanley Weldon, 74, and Harry Gittins, also 74.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Mr Moss, who had lung cancer, died the day after he was visited by Dr Martin at his home in Eldon, near Bishop Auckland, County Dur-ham, on March 13, 2003, and was given huge injections of morphine, even though the first one left him unconscious. The court heard that five days later, Stanley Weldon, from nearby Coundon Grange, was given a similar dose of morphine when Dr Martin visited his nursing home to treat him for pneumonia. He died the next day.

The court was told that Mr Gittins, from Newton Aycliffe, was given a cocktail of morphine, diamorphine and chlorpronazine by Dr Martin on January 21 last year, and died hours later.

Defence barrister Anthony Arlidge QC, told the jury that prosecutors had failed to prove the drugs killed the three men, or that Dr Martin knew exactly what effect they would have on his patients, or that he did not administer the medication to relieve their pain.