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Expert sure Kelly killed himself
LONDON, England -- All the evidence that has emerged about the death of British weapons expert David Kelly points to suicide, according to a psychiatrist. Oxford University suicide expert Keith Hawton said a major factor of Kelly's apparent suicide was the scientist's feeling of disgrace after being named as the government mole in the Iraq dossier row. "Being such a private man, I think this was anathema to him to be exposed publicly in this way," Hawton told the judicial inquiry into Kelly's death at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Tuesday. "I think he would have seen it as being a public disgrace." "All the information we have about his death and the circumstances of his death strongly point to his death having been by suicide," he said. He pointed to the fact that, when Kelly's body was found in woods near his Oxfordshire home, west of London, on July 18, his glasses and cap were found to have been removed, and his watch off to facilitate a slash to the wrist. On Monday, Kelly's widow described the anger and despair the scientist felt after he was revealed as a possible source for a BBC report claiming the government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to strengthen its case for war. (Full story) Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the inquiry that if the Iraqi threat had been exaggerated, it would have "merited my resignation." (Full story) Critics of Blair have blamed Kelly's death on the government's decision to confirm his name to journalists who guessed it. Earlier Tuesday Kelly's doctor said he had never known the 59-year-old to have suffered from depression before his apparent suicide in July. Dr. Malcolm Warner said he had last prescribed medication to Kelly in 1994. Asked if he had ever prescribed Co-proxamol, an arthritis drug found in Kelly's body after his death, to him, Warner said he had not, according to the Press Association. One of the last people to see Kelly alive also told the inquiry Tuesday that the scientist had seemed "just his normal self, no different to any other time when I met him" on July 17.
Ruth Absalom met Kelly in the village where he lived in Oxfordshire, west of London, as he took a walk from which he would not return. The next day the 59-year-old's body was found in woods after he had apparently cut his wrists. A volunteer dog handler working with police searching for Kelly also told how she found his body slumped against a tree in woods near his home after her dog picked up a scent. "His legs were straight in front of him, his right arm was to the side of him, his left arm had a lot of blood on it and was bent back in a funny position," PA quoted Louise Holmes as saying. She said she was convinced the body was that of the missing scientist, that he was dead "and there was nothing I could do to help him." She then walked back out of the woods and alerted police. Police officers involved in the search also described the area where the body was found. Police Constable Jonathan Sawyer told the inquiry: "I was looking for signs of perhaps a struggle, but all the undergrowth that was surrounding Dr. Kelly's body was standing upright and there was no sign of any form of struggle at all."
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