Dr Kelly tape ‘will exonerate BBC reporter’

The BBC has a tape of the scientist Dr David Kelly expressing concern about the way Iraq weapons intelligence was presented, the corporation said yesterday.

The tape of a conversation between Dr Kelly and the science editor of Newsnight, Susan Watts, was expected to be submitted as part of its evidence to the judicial inquiry into Dr Kelly’s death.

The Guardian reported newspaper yesterday that the BBC believed the tape was the ‘smoking gun’ that would exonerate Andrew Gilligan, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme correspondent who reported the suggestion that Number 10 ‘sexed up’ the September dossier on Iraq’s banned weapons.

The BBC today would not discuss the content but is thought to regard it as a ‘useful’ part of its evidence, rather than the centrepiece.

Dr Kelly was found with his wrist slashed in an Oxfordshire wood days after coming under intense scrutiny as the source for Mr Gilligan’s story.

After his death, the BBC confirmed that he had been the main source for three journalists who had reported concerns about the way Iraq weapons intelligence had been presented.

The news on the tape came as signs of cracks were emerging at the highest level of the BBC. There were concerns among the board of governors whether they had all the facts when they issued their support of Mr Gilligan and the corporation’s director of news, Richard Sambrook, it was reported.

But chairman Gavyn Davies said in a statement that the BBC board of governors had agreed there was no need to call a special meeting.