Inquiry to hear about Kelly's mental state

Tuesday, 2 September 2003 5:56 AM

Appearing before Lord Hutton's judicial inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly, the Iraqi weapons expert at the heart of the "dodgy dossier" scandal, will be key witnesses aware of his state of mind before he took his own life.

Dr Kelly killed himself in July after was named as the "source" in the BBC report which claimed someone in Downing Street doctored an intelligence dossier on Iraq's capacity to launch lethal weapons, in an apparent bid to bolster the case for war against Saddam Hussein's dictatorship.

Dr Kelly was forced to appear before the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on July 15, where he faced a grilling over his role in the affair.

Two days later he was found dead.

Yesterday, the former United Nations weapons inspector 's wife, Janice, described the "nightmare" during the days before his death. She said her husband felt "betrayed" by the Ministry of Defence. He appeared forlorn with a "broken heart."

"I believed he meant the MoD (Ministry of Defense) because they were the ones who had effectively let his name be known in the public domain," she told the committee via an audio link from a nearby room.

On Tuesday, the inquiry will hear from Professor Keith Hawton, director of the University of Oxford Centre for Suicide Research, a psychiatrist appointed by Lord Hutton.

Religious spokesman Barney Leith, UK head of the Baha'i faith, will outline the main tenets of Dr Kelly's faith.

Hutton will also hear testimony a local doctor Dr Malcolm Warner and two ambulance men as well as police officers who found Dr Kelly's body in woodland near his Oxfordshire home.

Other witnesses include Kelly family neighbour Ruth Absalom.

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