Six doctors are taking legal action to demand a formal inquest into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly.
They say Lord Hutton’s conclusion that he killed himself is flawed and have approached the attorney general to get the issue considered at the High Court.
Dr Kelly’s body was found in 2003 after he was exposed as the source of a BBC story on the grounds for war in Iraq.
But Michael Powers QC said there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt he killed himself.
‘No fingerprints’
Instead of a coroner’s inquest, the then prime minister Tony Blair asked Lord Hutton to investigate the death.
Lord Hutton concluded he bled to death as a result of cutting his wrist and taking an overdose of painkillers.
But Dr Powers, a former assistant coroner, said the cuts would not have caused him to bleed to death and the dose of co-proxamol in Dr Kelly’s body was normal.
He said: “Suicide cannot be presumed it has to be proven. From the evidence that we have as to the circumstances of his death, in particular the aspect of haemorrhage, we do not believe that there was sufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he killed himself.
He said that there was not enough information to determine whether Dr Kelly was murdered or killed himself.
He added that the inquest should not have been left to Lord Hutton because he is not a coroner.
“There are many times in political life that the country needs to have an answer and the desire to have an answer overwhelms the desire to get the right answer,” he said.
‘Assassination likely’
“I have no doubt that many of us when we read about this thought that he had killed himself. But you cannot be certain.
“Everyone’s death is significant. This death had a significance which was greater and I feel that the process of the investigation of death ought to have been a thorough one. That was not provided for him.”
Dr Powers and five other experts have instructed solicitors Leigh Day and Co to approach Attorney General Baroness Scotland.
The experts are trauma surgeon David Halpin, epidemiologist Andrew Rouse, surgeon Martin Birnstingl, radiologist Stephen Frost, and Chris Burns-Cox who specialises in internal general medicine.
Mr Halpin said: “We don’t believe that anyone, high profile or not, should go without an inquest in this country. Any unnatural death has to be investigated properly. This has not.”
He said his personal view was that it was “very likely” Dr Kelly was assassinated.
He said MP Norman Baker had uncovered information showing there were no fingerprints on the knife the scientist apparently used to slash his wrist, even though he was not wearing gloves.
Dr Powers said it was never made public how much blood Dr Kelly had actually lost and although there was very little co-proxamol in his body, three packets of 10 were found nearby with just one pill left.
Sourced: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8397625.stm
I have always considered David Kelly’s death to be very suspicious and am pleased to hear that at last the case is to be re-opened.
Please note, though, that the ’six doctors’ have called for an INQUEST not another enquiry. The Hutton enquiry was where it all went wrong in the first place, as there was no coroner present and no-one was on oath. Recall the same policemen (were there one or two?) and detective (are there usually detectives engaged in a missing persons’ search??) and have them swear on oath. THEN we may hear a completely different story.
Norman Baker MP’s book on the subject is a very good read, by the way.
If you want an Inquiry that will hide the truth then Lord Hutton is your man. Lets face it what government Inquirys has he led where justice has had it’s say? None!
The Government deliberately chose Hutton to head the Inquiry as they knew he would help them cover up the whole Dr Kelly case including his Murder.
More on the Hutton Inquiry his own “INVESTIGATION INTO THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE DEATH OF DR DAVID KELLY” visit his site http://www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk/
Dr David Kelly was chosen by Tony Blairs Government to investigate and prove that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction, including the capability to launch a Nuclear strike on the USA or UK in under 45 minutes. As Dr Kelly did not find any evidence what so ever to back up the governments claims he began to become concerned that the Blair government where about to start an illegal war with Iraq. When Dr Kelly started to air his views on their not being any WMDs in Iraq and that a war would not be justified on these grounds he supposedly commits suicide. The truth is he was “Disputed”, murdered, to shut him up so that Bush and Blair could go ahead and invade Iraq.
You see people this is how our Democratic governments work. Life means nothing to them, unless it’s their own. If they have no respect for an eminent scientist like Dr Kelly and can forfeit his life for their own gains then what hope have we?