Secret post mortem reports into Kelly’s death revealed

THE British government released secret autopsy records yesterday confirming Iraq weapons inspector David Kelly died by slashing his own wrist, after doubts were raised over the cause of death.

The justice ministry said it was publishing the documents, initially classified for 70 years following an official inquiry into Kelly’s death, “in the interests of maintaining public confidence in the inquiry”.

A group of experts earlier this year called for a full inquiry into Kelly’s death in 2003, arguing that the suicide verdict was unsafe. The incident has also spawned a host of conspiracy theories.

In the postmortem report, unveiled publicly for the first time, pathologist Nicholas Hunt wrote that wounds to Kelly’s left wrist that severed an artery were “typical of self-inflicted injury”.

The fact that Kelly had taken an overdose of painkillers and had undiagnosed coronary artery disease had likely brought about his death “more certainly and more rapidly than would have otherwise been the case,” he said.

Kelly was found dead in woods near his home in Oxfordshire, southern England, after he was exposed as the source for a BBC story that alleged prime minister Tony Blair’s government “sexed up” intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The then lord chancellor Charles Falconer, the government’s chief law officer, suspended an inquest into the death before an inquiry began, and the inquest was never resumed.

Kelly was the most experienced British expert involved in UN inspections in Iraq intended to prevent dictator Saddam Hussein from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

Ahead of the invasion, Blair’s government unveiled a dossier of intelligence about Saddam’s purported weapons of mass destruction in a bid to strengthen its case for war, including a claim that they could be deployed within 45 minutes.

After the “sexed up” dossier claim, the government was furious and sought out the source.