Thread: WMD - UK Doctor's death 'textbook suicide'

22 August 2010 Last updated at 03:49 GMT
Pathologist says David Kelly's death 'textbook suicide'





Dr Kelly was the source of a BBC report casting doubt on government claims about Iraq's weapons
The death of Iraq weapons expert David Kelly was a "textbook case" of suicide according to the pathologist who performed the post-mortem examination.
A group of doctors has questioned the suicide verdict by the Hutton Inquiry in 2004 and called for a full inquest.
But Nicholas Hunt said the scientist's death, after he was exposed as the source for a BBC story, was a "classic case of self-inflicted injury".
He told the Sunday Times he would, however, welcome a full inquest.
Dr Kelly's body was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, shortly after it was revealed that he provided the information for a story casting doubt on the government's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capable of being fired within 45 minutes.
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Instead of a coroner's inquest, then Prime Minister Tony Blair asked Lord Hutton to conduct an investigation, which found Dr Kelly died from blood loss after slashing his wrist with a blunt gardening knife.
'Nothing to hide'
The details of the post-mortem examination are subject to a 70-year gagging order, and it is understood this is the first time Mr Hunt, who gave evidence at the Hutton Inquiry, has spoken out in defence of his findings.
Mr Hunt told the Sunday Times that during the eight-hour examination he found no signs of murder.
"I felt very, very sorry for David Kelly and the way he had been treated by the government... I had every reason to look for something untoward and would dearly love to have found something," the Home Office pathologist said.
"It was an absolute classic case of self-inflicted injury. You could illustrate a textbook with it.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

There were big, thick clots of blood inside the sleeve, which came down over the wrist”

End Quote Nicholas Hunt Pathologist
"If it were anyone else and you were to suggest there's something foul about it, you would be referred for additional training. I would welcome an inquest, I've nothing to hide."
There have been a number of calls for the case to be reopened, most recently from a group of eight doctors who claimed Lord Hutton's conclusions were unsafe.
Earlier this month, they argued the wound to Dr Kelly's wrist was unlikely to have been fatal unless he was suffering from a blood-clotting deficiency.
Their view appears to be supported by the detective who found his body when he said he did not see "much blood" in the vicinity.
But Mr Hunt said: "In actual fact there were big, thick clots of blood inside the sleeve, which came down over the wrist, and a lot of blood soaked into the ground.
"They might not have seen it, but it was there and I noted it in my report."
Mr Hunt told the paper that two of Dr Kelly's main coronary arteries were 70-80% narrower than normal, and his heart disease was so severe that he could have "dropped dead" at any minute.
"With David Kelly, there were three factors that contributed to his death. If you have narrower arteries, your ability to withstand blood loss falls dramatically," he said.
"Your heart also becomes more vulnerable to anything that could cause it to become unstable, such as stress - which I have no doubt he was under massively - and the overdose."
In his report, Mr Hunt found Dr Kelly had taken an overdose of the painkiller co-proxamol but the toxicology reports have also come under scrutiny from those who do not believe the scientist committed suicide.
New evidence
The doctors have called for material from the post-mortem examination to be released, and Lord Hutton has said he does not have any objection to them seeing it.
The peer said in January that the purpose of the secrecy order, made at the conclusion of his inquiry, had been to avoid causing distress to Dr Kelly's family.
Attorney General Dominic Grieve told the Daily Telegraph last week that those who felt "Lord Hutton did not tie up every loose end may have a valid point".
But he said he could not apply to the High Court for an inquest on a "hunch" and would have to be shown new evidence before doing so.

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

BULLSHIT!!!!!!!

His death was far too convenient by half for Blair etc.

That alone was a reason for open process. (unless there was a need for brush under the carpet lasting 70 years)

We already know Blair has made millions from the Iraq war, killing a load of British troops to get his cash, what's one more corpse when you are looking at that kind of cash?

Open inquest with independent people tomorrow please.