Kelly pathologist demands inquest: Law chief to act after doctor insists 'I've got nothing to hide'http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305159/David-Kelly-death-textbook-suicide-Autopsy-doctor-reveals-weapons-inspector-died.htmlBy Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:10 PM on 22nd August 2010
THE Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, will examine 'important new evidence' about the death of Dr David Kelly after the pathologist who examined
his body called yesterday for a full inquest.
Nicholas Hunt declared that a full and open hearing into the former weapons inspector's death is necessary to clear up once and for all whether he did commit suicide, as the Hutton Report ruled.
Mr Grieve, the government's chief law officer, said last week that he would consider requesting
a hearing if new evidence were presented to him to 'give the public reassurance'.
Some government officials are also hopeful that a deal can be reached between Mr Grieve and Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to release the post-mortem examination, which has until now been banned from release for 70 years.
The official reason for this restriction was to protect the Kelly family from further distress but Mr Clarke does have the power to obtain and publish the hitherto classified documents.
One solution being suggested in Whitehall is for the so-called 'Kelly Files' to be published in full on the internet to allow interested parties to examine them.
But Dr Hunt, who performed the autopsy on David Kelly, threw his weight behind the call for openness. 'I would welcome an inquest,' he said. 'I've nothing to hide.' The pathologist insisted that Dr Kelly's death was a 'textbook' case of suicide and that he had found nothing to indicate the weapons expert was murdered despite an eight-hour examination of the body.
He sought to dispel many of the theories that have built up around the case – in particular the claim that there was not enough blood at the scene to support the thesis that Dr Kelly died after slashing his wrist.
But in a boost for campaigners who want to see all the post-mortem examination papers surrounding Dr Kelly's death published, sources close to the Attorney General said he would study Dr Hunt's views.
A government source said the material from the pathologist constitutes 'important new evidence'
from 'someone who would clearly be a key witness as author of the post mortem which Editorwould be an important piece of evidence'.
Dr Michael Powers QC, who is among those demanding a full inquiry, said the new claims from the pathologist
simply reinforced the case for openness.
'It may or may not be a textbook suicide,' he said. 'It is just simply too difficult to tell on the basis of the evidence
which was heard by Lord Hutton.
That is the underlying problem.
'It is the inadequacies of the inquiry which have led to the situation we are in at present.'
Dr Powers claimed Dr Hunt had 'got clearance from the Government' to disclose details of his post-mortem report. He added: 'There should be no reason why the post-mortem report itself shouldn't be disclosed.'
Dr Kelly's widow, Janice, who has maintained a dignified silence since her husband's death in July 2003, again declined to comment yesterday.
She and her family are thought not to support a new hearing.
But journalist Tom Mangold, who was a close friend of the dead scientist,
reinforced calls for an inquest to clear the air.
'My own feeling is that an inquest on balance will do some good,' he said. 'I am in favour of it. I never fully understood why a full inquest was not held in the first place.'
He claimed that Dr Kelly had committed
suicide because he lied to a House of Commons committee about his role in the BBC expose.
'The exposure of that lie would have meant that his career would end in disgrace and he would retire a broken
man in a marriage that had effectively
run its course earlier.'
Dr Kelly, 59, was found dead in woods near his Oxfordshire home a week after he was identified as the source of a BBC story claiming the Government 'sexed up' its now-notorious
dossier on Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.
Tony Blair appointed Lord Hutton to head a public inquiry into his death. The then Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer ruled it should also act as an inquest.
Lord Hutton found that Dr Kelly slit his wrist and took 29 painkillers.
But since then a host of medical experts have cast doubt on the verdict,
questioning whether the amount of blood found with his body was sufficient
loss to have killed him.
Dr Hunt's evidence suggests the Government could draw a line under the affair. He made clear he had looked for evidence of foul play, but found none.
'I felt very, very sorry for David Kelly and the way he had been treated by the government,' he said. 'I had every reason to look for something untoward
and would dearly love to have found something.
'It was an absolute classic case of self-inflicted injury. You could illustrate
a textbook with it.'
Dr Hunt contradicted claims that there was not enough blood.
'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,' he said.
The pathologist added that there was 'nothing to suggest' the body had been moved, another claim from critics of the investigation.
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