Hutton leak inquiry fails to find source

Wednesday, 11 August 2004 12:00 AM

The Hutton Inquiry has announced that it has been unable to find the person responsible for leaking the report's conclusions to a national newspaper.

Tight security had governed the writing of the Hutton Report into the death of Dr David Kelly with key witnesses, including the Government, not given a sighting of the document until 24 hours before its public release.

However, on the morning of its publication The Sun carried a front-page splash detailing the report's main conclusions.

When he released the official report later that day Lord Hutton said he deplored the reporting of the conclusions.

The Sun's political editor, Trevor Kavanagh, has consistently refused to say how he came by the information beyond saying it came during a telephone conversation with an "impartial source".

The Conservatives had accused the Government of leaking the report, a charge vehemently denied by the Government.

Today's statement from the Hutton Inquiry says that the solicitor for the inquiry "carried out a full and careful investigation but was unable to discover the source."

Following an investigation into whether any extra security measures should be introduced for future sensitive publications it concludes that: "No particular weaknesses in the measures which were taken to guard the confidentiality of the report were found. The source of the leak remains unknown. Steps taken to protect sensitive reports before publication will be kept under regular review."

No further details on the leak search will be released for "security reasons" and Lord Hutton himself will not be commenting.

Tags: