David Kelly
Dr David Christopher Kelly, CMG (14 May 1944–17 July 2003) was an employee of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD), an expert in biological warfare and a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. Kelly's discussion with BBC Radio 4 Today programme journalist Andrew Gilligan about the British government's dossier on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq inadvertently caused a major political scandal. He was found dead days after appearing before the Parliamentary committee charged with investigating the scandal.
Contents
Some of the Unanswered Questions
As at May 2011
- Operation Mason, the police code-name for the search for Dr Kelly, was officially started before his family had reported him missing. The official explanation is that the start time is retrospective to cover preceding time relevant to the operation; but if this were the reason in this case, then the start time would need to be weeks, not hours earlier. Who authorised and what was the precise time of such authorisation?
- Why were there no fingerprints on Dr Kelly's knife, pill packets, water bottle, glasses, mobile or watch? He wore no gloves. Police knew this when they gave evidence to Hutton but the absence of prints wasn't mentioned.
- Lord Hutton said photographic evidence showed Dr Kelly's body was found propped against a tree, yet the first paramedic to reach the scene said he was originally flat on his back. Who moved the body and why?
- Detective Constable Coe of Thames Valley Police, who guarded Dr Kelly's body after it was found, has admitted concealing the presence of an unidentified man at the scene. Why?
- In 2003 Dr Kelly's friend, Mai Pederson, told police Dr Kelly couldn't cut steak because of an old injury to his right arm. How could he have slashed his left wrist? She also said he had a pill phobia.
- Former MP Robert Jackson has said Dr Kelly's GP, Dr Malcolm Warner, told him he saw the corpse immediately after its discovery. When Dr Warner gave evidence to the Hutton Inquiry he failed to report this. Why?
- AII medical and scientific reports, and photographs of Dr Kelly's body were secretly classified for 70 years by Lord Hutton after the death. On what legal basis was that done and why?
- The death certificate does not state where he died, as it should, but was registered midway through the Hutton Inquiry anyway, before Hutton concluded how he died. Why?
- According to Dr Kelly's widow, police stripped wallpaper from their sitting room on the night of his disappearance. Why?
- Several key witnesses did not appear at Hutton. They include Paul Weaving, supposedly the last person to see Dr Kelly alive; DC Shields, one of the police first at the scene; Dr Eileen Hickey, the forensic biologist who attended Harrowdown Hill. Why?
- A 110ft communications mast was erected outside Dr Kelly's house immediately after he was declared missing early on July 18. Was it used to communicate with Tony Blair (en route to Tokyo from Washington) and/or his spin chief Alastair Campbell?
There are probably more - Please provide answers and/or add to the list
Updates
13 August 2010. Experts urge full inquest into David Kelly death [1] [2]
LONDON — A group of prominent experts on Friday called for a full inquest into the death of government weapons inspector David Kelly, whose apparent suicide in July 2003 plunged then prime minister Tony Blair into crisis. The eight senior figures said in a letter to The Times newspaper that the official cause of death in the Kelly case, haemorrhage, was "extremely unlikely" in the light of evidence since made public. The signatories included a former coroner, Michael Powers, a former deputy coroner, Margaret Bloom, and Julian Bion, a professor of intensive care medicine.
External Links
- Dr David Kelly: The damning new evidence that points to a cover-up by Tony Blair's government - Daily Mail 26 June 2010
- David Kelly (weapons expert)
- Dr David Kelly's body 'had obviously been moved': Paramedic at death scene reveals concerns over Hutton Inquiry - Mail Online 12 September 2010. The report also reveals that the Statutory Paramedic reports of their attendance at the scene has been "lost" and the copy of it scanned onto the NHS computer system as a matter of routine "Cannot be found either".
- Mystery of the helicopter that landed at scene of Dr Kelly's death after his body was found Daily Mail 14 May 2011
- Doubts over Dr Kelly that won't go away Daily Mail Comment - 14 May 2011
Other information sources
- Dr David Kelly - Blog
- Dr Kelly's Death - Suicide or Murder Blog
- ISBN 978 1 84275 217 3 'The Strange Death of David Kelly' - Norman Baker MP. Methuen 2007.
- Death of David Kelly - Wikipedia page
- Hutton Inquiry web site
- Hutton Inquiry - At the Open Directory Project