Blair and Hoon face serious questions over public shaming that led to suicide

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair and Geoff Hoon were facing serious questions yesterday after Britain's leading suicide expert concluded that weapons expert David Kelly took his own life because he felt he had been "publicly disgraced."

Professor Keith Hawton, director for suicide research at Oxford University, said the outing by the Ministry of Defence and subsequent televised public grilling by the Foreign Affairs Committee of Dr Kelly were "anathema" to an intensely private man.

Loss of self-esteem as a result of his dismay at being exposed to the media contributed to the scientist's suicide, Prof Hawton concluded.

His evidence to the Hutton Inquiry put the spotlight back on to the prime minister, defence secretary and top government officials who had a role in Dr Kelly being unmasked as the source of the BBC story that No 10's Iraq dossier had been "sexed up."

The psychiatrist's testimony went to the very heart of the inquiry into why Dr Kelly took his own life in dense woodland near his home on July 17.

Asked what factors he believed had contributed to Dr Kelly's suicide, Prof Hawton said: "as far as one can deduce, the major factor was the severe loss of self-esteem, resulting from his feeling that people had lost trust in him and from his dismay at being exposed to the media.

"He talked a lot about it and I think being such a private man, I think this was an anathema to him to be exposed publicly in this way and in a sense he would have seen it as being publicly disgraced." Adding further pressure on the way the MoD and No 10 handled the affair, Prof Hawton said being described as a "middle-ranking official" by the government was "very upsetting for him." In his evidence to the inquiry last week, Mr Blair put himself at the centre of the naming strategy by revealing that he had told BBC chairman Gavyn Davies in private on July 7 that an official had come forward to admit he had met journalist Andrew Gilligan.

Mr Blair, who said ultimately he had "full responsibility" for the affair, claimed Dr Kelly's name "was going to come out in one way or another."

Earlier, the inquiry heard about Dr Kelly's final hours as he embarked on the walk that would end in his death.

In marked contrast to the testimonies of his wife and daughter, who said that Dr Kelly had seemed broken-hearted and distressed in the days leading up to his death, Ruth Absalom, an elderly neighbour, told the inquiry he appeared cheerful.

The scientist's last words as they chatted on a country lane were: "See you again then Ruth ... Cheerio."