David Kelly (weapons expert)
| David Kelly | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
14 May 1944 Rhondda, Wales |
| Died | 17 July 2003 (aged 59) Oxfordshire, England |
| Cause of death | Presumed suicide: haemorrhage from incised wounds of the left wrist, in combination with coproxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis |
| Body discovered | Harrowdown Hill, Longworth, Oxfordshire |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | BSc (Leeds), MSc (Birmingham), DPhil (Oxon) |
| Alma mater | University of Leeds, University of Birmingham, Linacre College, Oxford. |
| Occupation | Specialist in biological warfare; UN weapons inspector in Iraq |
| Employer | British Ministry of Defence |
| Spouse(s) | Janice Kelly |
David Christopher Kelly, CMG (14 May 1944 – 17 July 2003) was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare, employed by the British Ministry of Defence, and formerly a weapons inspector with the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq. He came to public attention in July 2003 when an unauthorised discussion he had off the record with BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan about the British government's dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was cited by Gilligan and led to a major controversy. Kelly's name became known to the media as Gilligan's source and he was called to appear on 15 July before a parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee investigating the issues Gilligan had reported. Kelly was questioned aggressively about his actions. He was found dead two days later.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government set up the Hutton Inquiry, a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death. The inquiry concluded that Kelly had committed suicide, with the cause of death as "haemorrhage due to incised wounds of the left wrist" in combination with "coproxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis". Lord Hutton also decided that evidence related to the death, including the post-mortem report and photographs of the body, should remain classified for 70 years. In October 2010, Hutton claimed that he had done so to protect Kelly's wife and daughters from the distress of further media reports about the death, saying: "My request was not a concealment of evidence because every matter of relevance had been examined or was available for examination during the public inquiry. There was no secrecy surrounding the postmortem report because it had always been available for examination and questioning by counsel representing the interested parties during the inquiry."
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