No Cameras at Hutton inquiry
Cameras have been banned from Lord Hutton’s judicial inquiry into the tragic suicide of Iraqi weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
Lord Hutton declined calls for proceedings to be televised indicating he wished to observe the request from the Kelly family.
The hearing will take place on Monday behind closed doors because it would place “additional strain” on witnesses giving evidence, the judge said.
Lord Hutton said: “Those who give evidence will be placed under strain even if their evidence is not filmed and broadcast on television.
“But the strain will be all the greater if they know that their evidence is being filmed and broadcast and that every answer, every qualification or correction of an answer, every hesitation, every facial expression and every alteration of their posture will be watched by hundreds of thousands of people on their television screens and will be liable to be replayed on television on a number of occasions.”
ITN, BSkyB, Channel 4 and Channel 5 news firms asked Lord Hutton to allow in television cameras given the sizeable public interest in the scandal.
