Kelly had heart attack, says pathologist

[n2doc]

New theory questions Hutton finding over death of weapons inspector, but says he was not murdered

By Andrew Johnson

A retired pathologist cast further doubt yesterday on the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly, the government weapons inspector said to have committed suicide in 2003. She also criticised Lord Hutton's handling of the inquiry into his death. Dr Jennifer Dyson joined other experts questioning the official finding that Kelly bled to death. She argued it was more likely that the 59-year-old scientist suffered a heart attack due to the stress he had been placed under.

The intervention came as Michael Howard, the former Conservative Party leader, became the most prominent politician to call for a full inquest into the inspector's death. He told The Mail on Sunday that questions over the death meant that calling a full inquiry would be "entirely appropriate".

Kelly, Britain's most senior inspector in Iraq, was found dead in woods near his home in Oxfordshire. He was revealed to be the source behind a BBC news story which accused Tony Blair's former communications chief Alastair Campbell of "sexing up" the so-called "dodgy dossier" about Iraq's weapons.

Kelly had taken a non-lethal dose of painkillers and had cut his left wrist. A small knife was found near his body. Unusually for such a sudden and high-profile death, Kelly's case has never been the subject of a full coroner's inquiry. Instead, the case was examined during the Hutton inquiry. Lord Hutton concluded that Kelly had principally died from "bleeding from incised wounds to his left wrist which Dr Kelly had inflicted on himself with the knife found beside his body". He added that Kelly's death was hastened by the 29 pills he swallowed, and coronary heart disease.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/kelly-had-heart-attack-says-pathologist-2053048.html