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SEXED-UP DOSSIER

Who was Dr David Kelly, where is his grave, what are the conspiracy theories about his death and what is Justice for Kelly?

Dr Kelly was a top weapons inspector and bio-warfare expert who was found dead after being revealed as the source of information about a notorious 'sexed-up' dossier on Iraq

DAVID Kelly was a weapons expert and inspector who worked for the Ministry of Defence and the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq.

He was found dead two days after a parliamentary grilling in which he was heavily criticised for speaking to a BBC journalist about the notorious "sexed-up" dossier of evidence that was used as a precursor for the Iraq war in 2003.

 Dr Kelly was said to have given information to the BBC that was behind the's Government 'embellishment' of the threat of Saddam Hussein
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Dr Kelly was said to have given information to the BBC that was behind the's Government 'embellishment' of the threat of Saddam HusseinCredit: Getty Images - Getty

Who was Dr David Kelly?

David Kelly was born in May 1944 in Rhondda, Wales and studied at the University of Leeds, University of Birmingham, and Linacre College, Oxford.

He specialised in microbiology and joined the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down in 1984.

Dr Kelly was called up to advise ministers at the MoD and the Foreign Office and was involved in investigations into Soviet weapons violations.

His expertise was also put to use inspecting weapons sites in the former USSR after the collapse of communism in the early nineties.

He first became involved in Iraq after the First Gulf War, working for the United Nations to inspect its weapons capabilities.

Dr Kelly was the first to uncover Saddam Hussein's illegal biological weapons programme, leading to his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

He regularly briefed journalists, giving off-the-record comments and insights as the world's focus shifted to the dangers of Iraqi expansionism in the late nineties and early 2000's.

Working for the Defence Intelligence Staff in 2002, Dr Kelly was present at the time the Joint Intelligence Committee produced a dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

This government-ordered examination was later used to forward the case for invasion in 2003.

He took issue with claims in the report about Saddam's biological weapons arsenal, especially one that said Iraq was capable of firing a battlefield dirty bomb within 45 minutes of an order being made.

Dr Kelly discussed this with then-BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan, who aired his concerns anonymously on the Today Programme on 29 May 2003.

In the report, it was said there was direct government influence on the contents of the dossier, including from Prime Minister Tony Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell.

This caused a political storm that led to Kelly being named as the source of the information and him being hauled in front of a committee of MPs for a public hearing on 15 July 2003.

Two days later on 17 July Dr Kelly worked from his Oxfordshire home before taking an afternoon walk.

He was found dead the following day in nearby woodland, having ingested 29 painkillers and cutting his wrists.

 Dr David Kelly's family received threats from theorists to dig up the weapon inspector's grave
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Dr David Kelly's family received threats from theorists to dig up the weapon inspector's graveCredit: Jamie Lorriman - The Sun

What are the conspiracy theories about his death and what is Justice for Kelly?

The Hutton Inquiry was immediately ordered to investigate the events that led to Dr Kelly's death.

Reporting on 28 January 2004, it concluded that he had committed suicide.

Lord Hutton wrote: "I am satisfied that none of the persons whose decisions and actions I later describe ever contemplated that Kelly might take his own life.

"I am further satisfied that none of those persons was at fault in not contemplating that Kelly might take his own life.

"Whatever pressures and strains 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."

But conspiracy theorists believe Kelly may have been murdered to silence him.

They point to the fact that no coroner's inquest took place — although this was superseded by the inquiry and Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner reviewed the evidence given to Lord Hutton and came to the same conclusion.

In 2007, a BBC poll found that 22.7 per cent believed that Dr Kelly had not killed himself, and 38.8 per cent did not know.

Lib Dem MP Norman Baker said in 2006 that he believed Dr Kelly did not die from natural causes, and his book The Strange Death Of David Kelly was published in 2007.

Legal action was launched in December 2009 to demand a formal inquest, but it emerged the following month that Lord Hutton had requested Dr Kelly's postmortem files remain hidden for 70 years.

These files were released in October 2010, but Dr Michael Powers insisted the evidence did not categorically point to suicide.

Several other medical experts have come forward to refute Lord Hutton's verdict.

Amateur theorists and investigators have also set up a clandestine group called Justice for Kelly.

It left placards at Dr Kelly's grave and had called for his body to be exhumed for investigation.

In October 2017 Dr Kelly's family secretly exhumed his body and reportedly cremated it.

Biological weapons scientist Dr David Kelly on his field work


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