Police searching for the weapons expert named as the possible source for a BBC story on Iraq say they have discovered a body. The body was found at 0920 BST by a member of the police team searching for Dr Kelly in a wooded area at Harrow Down Hill, near Farringdon, Oxfordshire, but has not yet been identified.
Government adviser David Kelly, 59, went missing from his home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at about 1500 BST on Thursday. Earlier this week, Dr Kelly denied being the BBC’s main source for a story claiming Downing Street had “sexed up” a dossier about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. He appeared before the Commons foreign affairs committee on Tuesday. Acting superintendent Dave Purnell, of Thames Valley Police, said: "What I would ask is because of the considerable amount of media interest is that the family are treated with respect and are not contacted at this time. "We haven’t ruled anything out yet. Clearly there are people at the scene now and there is no further information as to the body that has been found apart from to say it is a male. “This is clearly a sensitive inquiry at the moment. The family of Dr David Kelly have been aware of what the police have been doing in relation to the search for him.” Superintendent Purnell said the search for Dr Kelly continues with the police helicopter and around 70 officers.
He said the official’s family were aware that a body had been found. A police family liasion officer is with them. Dr Kelly’s family contacted the police when he failed to return home by 2345 BST on Thursday.
LONGWORTH, England (Reuters) - A mild-mannered British scientist was found dead in the woods on Friday after being unwittingly dragged into a fierce political dispute about intelligence used to justify war on Iraq (news - web sites).
British police said they had found a body matching that of soft-spoken defense ministry biologist David Kelly, a former U.N. weapons inspector, who had been grilled in parliament over allegations the government hyped intelligence to justify war.
The political fallout was immediate. Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), who learned about the discovery of the body while flying from Washington to Tokyo, promised an independent judicial inquiry into the death if the body was confirmed to be Kelly’s.
But opponents called for Blair to return and face a broader probe into the case he made for war. The shock even sent Britain’s pound tumbling half a percent on currency markets as traders weighed the severity of the crisis for Blair.
Kelly’s family reported him missing overnight after he went for a walk in the Oxfordshire countryside on Thursday with no coat and stayed out despite a rainstorm. Police said they were not treating his death as suspicious and that the cause of death would not be confirmed until a post-mortem had been carried out.
Kelly had denied being the source for BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan, who said in May a senior intelligence source had told him the government had “sexed up” intelligence on Iraq.
If he was killed by the American/British military establishment because they have something to hide, don't hold your breath and expect any earth shattering details. They will hide the truth expertly just as they convinced the majority of Ameicans that Iraq was full of WMD's
I myself think it was suicide, what he was under was enough to drive anyone mad. But suicides never sate conspiracy nuts. It would be interesting to see if he left a death-box and if so whether his family will be able to get it published.
[QUOTE] Originally posted by spoon: *
**I myself think it was suicide, what he was under was enough to drive anyone mad. *
[/QUOTE]
It could be suicide... some reports are suggesting that the pressure from the grilling he faced at the Committee affected him greatly. Whatever it may have been - poor man... i feel sorry for him and his family. He was so soft-spoken during the interrogation, could barely hear his inaudible replies. He did acknowledge he had talked with Andrew Gilligan, but he denied being the source at the root of this conflict between the BBC and the British government. Looks like to me he was just an innocent official caught up in the middle.
Yes, but this is now turning into the biggest political scandal of Blair’s premiership, that at the least will cost the jobs of people close to him and leave Blair mortally wounded. But if the independent inquiry that he has finally conceded finds much more (aside from this tragic death) on the whole WMD scandal then prepare for Blair to drive to Buckingham Palace and hand the seals of office back to the Queen.
Just look at headlines in the mainstream UK papers - this is a scandal not seen since the time of the Porfumo scandal in the 1960’s, which also ended up finally costing the job of the then Prime Minister…
So they made it look like suicide. It is that easy.
You have to read British intelligence history. Riacin and other almost untraceable poisons have been used to kill before, by criminals and the government ( well ...almost the same right?). Now that Riacin was made a little popular by the (so called) Islamic terrorists maybe they came up something that is even less traceable.
Anyway when it is a matter of a country and the prime minister going under I wouldnt doubt it, if murders are ordered at the highest level. After all political leaders are not the exactly known for their regard for human life.
The prime minister is facing resignation calls following the death of government weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
Glenda Jackson, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, has insisted that “bullets should be bitten”.
As Tony Blair - who is currently visting Japan - was asked by journalists whether he had “blood on his hands”, the MP called on Blair to go.
“We now have the judicial inquiry but I have to say it seems to me that the prime minister should really be reconsidering his position,” she said on Saturday.
"I don’t see how the government is going to be able to function adequately. This is going to be hanging over the government for the whole period of the judicial inquiry.
“Ministers are responsible for actions and the actions that were engaged in by Number 10, on my opinion, a clear political case must be answered by those who are ultimately responsible.”
Blair has appealed for calm until the outcome of a judicial review into Dr Kelly’s death reports to government.
But questions about the Kelly affair appear set to dominate a six day tour of the Far East.
Speaking last night, the opposition leader Iain Duncan Smith urged the prime minister to take personal control of the crisis by cutting short his trip.
Quizzed on Saturday the prime minister side-stepped questions about the future of defence secretary Geoff Hoon and government spin chief Alastair Campbell.
That is the second high profile call from within Blair’s own Labour party asking him to. Just before the tragic death of Dr Kelly Claire Short was asking for Blair to resign because of how he misled the British people over Iraq. The Kelly family’s statement includes the following call:-
***Events over recent weeks made David’s life intolerable and all of those involved should reflect long and hard on this fact. ***
No wonder Blair looked so white faced and shamed in Japan…
The UK media is now reporting that Dr Kelly e-mailed the New York Times before his death with an ominous warning…
Kelly ‘warned of dark actors’ games’
Iraq weapons expert Dr David Kelly reportedly warned of “many dark actors playing games” in an e-mail sent hours before he bled to death from a slashed wrist. The message, sent to a journalist, appeared to refer to officials within the Ministry of Defence and British intelligence agencies with whom he had sparred over interpretations of weapons reports, according to the New York Times. But his e-mail gave no indication he was depressed and said he was waiting “until the end of the week” before judging how his appearance before the committee had gone, the newspaper said. The 59-year-old had told MPs he had spoken to BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan but denied he was the main source for his report that Downing Street communications director Alastair Campbell “sexed up” a dossier setting out the case for war in Iraq. His body was found at 0920 BST on Friday in a wooded area at Harrowdown Hill, near Faringdon.
‘Stress’
On Thursday, before leaving his Oxfordshire home for the last time, Dr Kelly had worked on a report he said he owed the Foreign Office and sent some e-mails to friends, his wife, Janice, told the New York Times. The newspaper said a second e-mail, sent by Dr Kelly to an associate, was “combative”. In it, the Ministry of Defence adviser said he was determined to overcome the scandal surrounding him and was enthusiastic about the possibility of returning to Iraq. Mrs Kelly told the paper her husband had been under enormous stress “as we all had been”, but she had no indication he was contemplating suicide. *** Police investigating Dr Kelly’s death have taken away his home computer for examination.***
Hmmm this Blair is a liar i don’t even think his own public belive anything that comes out of his mouth.
He was in the US this week in front of there congress saying how great Bush is yes i was like :yukh: :yukh: too , and the US is so and so and this and that. He got a congretional medal. I am thinking maybe he wishes he was an american instead of a a brit
And now that this scientist has been killed or died in suspicous circumstances over a even more suspicious iraq WMD report I think Blair is going to take the full wrap for this Iraq fiasco while his boss George Bush is happily playing golf somewhere in Texas
The British reporters at the Tokyo press conference said that Blair looked like he was going to collapse, and he looked absolutely dreadful standing there next to Japanese PM. He had better cancel the rest of his Asia tour and come back to London before he futher disgraces himself and the British nation.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Malik73: *
The British reporters at the Tokyo press conference said that Blair looked like he was going to collapse, and he looked absolutely dreadful standing there next to Japanese PM. He had better cancel the rest of his Asia tour and come back to London before he futher disgraces himself and the British nation.
[/QUOTE]
I saw that on TV pretty embarassing SOB could not answer any questions. shamless ba$tard...
Yes, and it all sounds very fishy indeed. Just before his death Dr Kelly mails journalists saying that there are “many dark actors playing games”, and this following a statement by the cabinet minister John Reid last month saying ** Rogue elements within the intelligence services have been…briefing against the government about the weapons threat posed by Iraq. **](BBC NEWS | UK | Politics | Spies 'fuelled Iraq arms row')
“Dark actors” and “Rogue elements”…who are these people exactly?
That’s pretty bizarre.
, and the US is so and so and this and that. He got a congretional medal. I am thinking maybe he wishes he was an american instead of a a brit 
