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22-8-2003 Scotsman The Hutton Inquiry: Kelly:' I'll be found dead in woods' By Gethin Chamberlain and Fraser Nelson THE government weapons expert Dr David Kelly hinted that he might kill himself if Britain invaded Iraq because he felt he would have betrayed his contacts in that country, the Hutton inquiry was told yesterday. Asked in February what would happen if war came, he told a senior British diplomat that he would "probably be found dead in the woods". Five months later, his body was found in woodland near his home in Oxfordshire. The dramatic twist in the evidence came on a day in which the inquiry heard how Dr Kelly told a friend he had been "put through the wringer" by his bosses at the Ministry of Defence. He had been shocked by the decision of the MoD to release his name and was perplexed by the amount of interest that it generated. But there was also further bad news for the BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan, whose allegations that the government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction provoked the row with Downing Street which culminated in the death of Dr Kelly. Nick Rufford, a Sunday Times reporter, told the inquiry Dr Kelly was unhappy with much of Mr Gilligan's story and had confided that he believed the government's position on Iraq was "credible and factual". He said Dr Kelly told him: "I met Gilligan at the Charing Cross Hotel. I did talk to him about factual stuff, the rest is bulls**t." But it was Dr Kelly's remarks about being found dead in the woods which dominated the eighth day of the hearing before Lord Hutton in London. He had made the remark during a conversation on 27 February with David Broucher, the Foreign Office's ambassador-ranking permanent representative at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Mr Broucher said Dr Kelly feared he had "betrayed" his Iraqi contacts in the build-up to war. The weapons expert believed that telling them conflict could be avoided if they co-operated with weapons inspections put him in a "morally ambiguous situation", said Mr Broucher. "He said he had tried to reassure them that if they co-operated with the weapons inspections they had nothing to fear. My impression was that he felt he was in some personal difficulty or embarrassment about this because he felt the invasion might go ahead anyway and somehow it was putting him in a morally ambiguous situation." Mr Broucher added: "As David Kelly was leaving, I said to him, 'What do you think will happen if Iraq is invaded?' His reply, which at the time I took to be a throwaway remark, was, 'I will probably be found dead in the woods'." Mr Broucher said it was only when he learned the circumstances of the scientist's death that he realised the possible significance of his conversation with Dr Kelly. The disclosure came on another day during which pressure grew on Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary who, with Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, will give evidence next week. Mr Hoon faces fresh questions over the way Dr Kelly was treated following claims defence officials told him he would not be named. The Defence Secretary also sought to limit the scientist's evidence to MPs investigating government handling of intelligence, it emerged. He told Donald Anderson, the chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, that he did not want Dr Kelly questioned for more than 45 minutes, and he asked the committee to stay away from questions about WMD and the contentious dossier. It also emerged that Dr Kelly was unconvinced by the extent of Iraq's biological weapons capability and the claim that Iraq could use weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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