Date set for Kelly probe hearing
Lord Hutton’s inquiry into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly will begin this Friday, August 1, the British government announced today.
The law lord will hold a preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in which he will set out how he intends to conduct the inquiry and hear applications from interested parties, which are expected to include the government and the BBC.
It will then be adjourned until after Dr Kelly’s funeral, which “will not take place for some time”, the Department for Constitutional Affairs said in a statement.
The inquiry will meet any legal costs that Dr Kelly’s widow Janice might incur.
Lord Hutton decided to go ahead with a preliminary hearing after meeting Mrs Kelly in her home in Southmoor, Oxfordshire, on Saturday.
The hearing will be in public and will be screened on television. However, the later evidence sessions will not be televised.
The date for Dr Kelly’s funeral has not been announced, although it is understood that it is not imminent. His body was released to his family last Friday, a week after his death.
Lord Hutton’s terms of reference for the inquiry are limited to the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly.
The 59-year-old government scientist bled to death after slitting his left wrist on a field a few miles away from his countryside home.
He committed suicide just over a week after being named as the government mole behind a BBC report that Downing Street “sexed up” its dossier on Iraq’s banned weapons to strengthen the case for war, an allegation which the government denies.
According to his family, Dr Kelly’s outing as Andrew Gilligan’s possible source, which was confirmed by the BBC only after his death, combined with an intense grilling by MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee, made life “intolerable” for the scientist.
Lord Hutton is expected to focus on the chain of events leading to his identification.
British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and No 10’s director of communications Alastair Campbell are likely to be called to give evidence.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he is prepared to cut short his family holiday to Cliff Richard’s mansion in Barbados this month to appear before the Hutton inquiry.
“It will be entirely for Lord Justice Hutton to decide when he wants to see people and who he wants to see,” Mr Blair’s spokesman said today.
