David Kelly

Dr. David Christopher Kelly CMG (May 17, 1944 – July 17, 2003) was an employee of the British Ministry of Defence (MoD), an expert in biological warfare, and a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. His talk with a journalist about the British government's dossier on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq inadvertently caused a major political scandal, and he was found dead days after appearing before a Parliamentary committee investigating it. The Hutton Inquiry, a public inquiry into his death, found that he had committed suicide.

Investigation

Kelly's wife reported him missing shortly after midnight that night, and he was found early the next morning. The government immediately announced an independent judicial inquiry into the events leading up to the death, and Lord Hutton was chosen to lead it. The BBC shortly afterwards confirmed that Kelly had indeed been the single source for Andrew Gilligan's report.

Related Topics:
Independent judicial inquiry - Lord Hutton

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The Hutton Inquiry reported on January 28, 2004 confirming that Kelly had committed suicide. Lord Hutton wrote:

Related Topics:
January 28 - 2004

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I am satisfied that none of the persons whose decisions and actions I later describe ever contemplated that Dr Kelly might take his own life. I am further satisfied that none of those persons was at fault in not contemplating that Dr Kelly might take his own life. Whatever pressures and strains Dr Kelly was subjected to by the decisions and actions taken in the weeks before his death, I am satisfied that no one realised or should have realised that those pressures and strains might drive him to take his own life or contribute to his decision to do so.

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Hutton concluded, controversially, that the Ministry of Defence were obliged to make Kelly's identity known once he came forward as a potential source, and had not acted in a duplicitous manner. However, Hutton criticised the MoD for not alerting Dr Kelly to the fact that his name had become known to the press.

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