Hutton concludes ‘no third party involvement’ in Kelly death
Lord Hutton declared that he was satisfied that there was “no involvement by a third party” in Dr Kelly’s death.
“I am satisfied that Dr Kelly took his own life by cutting his left wrist,” he said, and added that his death had been hastened by taking a “concoction” of pills.
Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide last July after being exposed as the ‘mole’ for a BBC story on a government’s dossier on Iraqi weapons.
At the end of his statement Lord Hutton also revealed that he would be seeking legal advice in regards to the The Sun newspaper’s leak of elements of the inquiry report ahead of publication.
Parliament today was dominated by the furore surrounding the leak, with several members of the opposition blaming the Government for the newspaper gaining access to details of the report.
The Government, the BBC and Dr David Kelly’s family were given advanced copies of the report 24 hours before publication, on the proviso that they agreed to keep the inquiry conclusions secret.
Lord Hutton also stated that he was satisfied that no parties involved were aware Dr Kelly might take his own life as a result on the pressures on him following his outing as the source for BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan’s report.
The former Law Lord concluded that there had been no “underhand” government strategy to “out” Dr Kelly.
He said that none of the key parties to give evidence to the inquiry were at fault for not contemplating that Dr Kelly might kill himself.
Dr Kelly built up a high reputation as a weapons expert, Lord Hutton said, and briefly outlined the expert’s career, revealing that the scientist had been considered for a knighthood in recognition of his work.
The report concludes, Lord Hutton said, that Dr Kelly was not suffering from any “significant mental illness” when he took his own life.
“I am satisfied that no one realised or should have realised that these pressures and strains might have driven him to take his own life or contribute to his decision to do so,” he said.
Lord Hutton said that he had decided that the question of whether intelligence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction justified going to war fell outside the scope of the inquiry.
He said that, while Dr Kelly told his employers at the MoD that he did not think he was the source of the report, he was the source cited in the Today programme report on the government’s dossier. Dr Kelly appreciated that his name would become public knowledge, Lord Hutton surmised.
However, he criticised Mr Gilligan for reporting that Downing Street “probably knew” the 45-minute claim in its Iraq dossier was wrong, calling it a “grave allegation” that attacked the integrity of the government and the Joint Intelligence Committee”.
Lord Hutton said Mr Gilligan’s allegation that the Government probably knew the 45-minute claim was not true before it included it in its dossier was “unfounded”.
He said the term “sexed up” was a slang term that was difficult to attribute a definite meaning to. It could, he said, be interpreted in two ways. It could either mean that the document had been embellished with false intelligence or that the document had been presented in such a way that the case against Saddam Hussein appeared as strong as the facts would allow.
Lord Hutton described the BBC’s editorial process in light of the allegations made in Mr Gilligan’s report as “defective”, given the gravity of the accusations being levelled at the government.
He stated that the BBC “failed to make an examination of Mr Gilligan’s notes to see if they supported the allegations”.
Lord Hutton ran through the events leading up to the Ministry of Defence scientist’s meetings with Mr Gilligan and his subsequent death.
He said that The Ministry of Defence “did not volunteer Dr Kelly’s name” as the source for the BBC story on the Iraq dossier, but noted that officials at the department were working from a briefing that allowed them to confirm the scientist’s name if it was put to them.
The Government was right, Lord Hutton said, in thinking that Dr Kelly’s name would become public and it was “unrealistic to think the name could have been kept secret”.
The Prime Minister, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and the MoD were not responsible for an “underhand or dishonourable” attempt to leak Dr Kelly’s death but were making details known to the press in order to protect the government from allegations of a cover-up, Lord Hutton said.
Lord Hutton did, however, criticise the MoD for its actions after the decision was taken to name Dr Kelly if his name was put to the press office and, in particular, for not informing Dr Kelly that his name would be confirmed to the press.
However, he said the media attention on Dr Kelly was not the only strain placed on the weapons expert, who had been an intensely private man and “not an easy man to help or to give advice” to.
Lord Hutton also revealed that final submissions to the inquiry from parties involved have been made public.
Lord Hutton gave a televised statement at the Royal Courts of Justice in London ahead of his full 328-page report being published at 13:30 GMT.
The report is based on evidence from 74 witnesses over the six weeks of the Hutton inquiry last summer, which involved thousands of pages of documents.
The full report has been made available on the inquiry’s website.
