MoD personnel head criticises Kelly over Gilligan meeting
Ministry of Defence personnel director Richard Hatfield continued his evidence to the Hutton Inquiry on Thursday, revealing that Dr David Kelly had broken rules in speaking to reporters.
Mr Hatfield was recalled before the inquiry for the second stage of hearings and was questioned by Jeremy Gompertz QC, lawyer for the Kelly family.
The senior Ministry of Defence official explained that although the Dr Kelly was allowed to speak to the media, he needed permission from bosses.
Mr Hatfield interviewed Dr David Kelly after the weapons expert came forward to admit he had conversed with BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan and may be the source for his allegations that the government ‘sexed up’ a dossier on Iraqi banned weapons.
The ministry personnel boss openly criticised Iraq arms expert Dr Kelly for his “fundamental” failure to report meeting with Mr Gilligan or the explosive nature of their conversations.
He denied Mr Gompertz’s suggestion that Ministry of Defence arrangements for reporting media contacts were a “muddle”.
Mr Hatfield insisted that nobody had ever claimed Dr Kelly had ever leaked anything and added that there had been a separate inquiry into the leak of a top secret document, but Dr Kelly was eliminated from that investigation.
Mr Hatfield admitted yesterday that he had not asked Dr Kelly for his permission to be publicly named, adding, “In the circumstances I was envisaging in which the MoD might make it public, I did not and do not believe that I required his consent.”
He denied accusations that Dr Kelly was left after his interviews with a “thoroughly misleading impression” of how he was being handled by his employers and claimed that the level of care given to Dr Kelly by the MoD as “outstanding”.
Asked whether it had been fair not to warn Dr Kelly of the existence of press statements and question and answer sheets before he was named, Mr Hatfield said the scientist could not have been “wholly unaware” of what was happening.
He added: “We believe on the basis of how he behaved during all this period that he was not suffering any stress other than the sort of stress we commonly expect from people going before committees.”
Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide after he became embroiled in a row between the government and the BBC over Mr Gilligan’s reports that weapons intelligence had been doctored to provide a stronger case for war in Iraq.
The former weapons inspector’s widow Janice has already stated that she believes her husband felt let down by the Ministry of Defence.
Defence correspondent Mr Gilligan appears before the inquiry for the third time later today.
Also appearing on Thursday are the ministry’s director of news Pam Teare and two forensic computer experts who examined the electronic personal organiser used by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan to record his meeting with Dr Kelly.
