British government releases secret papers on Kelly death

The British government Friday released previously secret documents relating to the high-profile death in 2003 of weapons expert David Kelly, which said that he died from a "self-inflicted injury."

Kelly's death rocked the government of former prime minister Tony Blair, following the scientist's revelation to a BBC journalist that he believed the government had "sexed up" its dossier claiming that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, DPA reported.

The claim was given as the main reason by the Blair government to justify the invasion of Iraq at the side of the US in March, 2003. It has since been found that Iraq under Saddam Hussein possessed no such weapons.

An inquiry concluded in 2004 that Kelly committed suicide. Its chairman, Brian Hutton, ruled at the time that his report should remain secret for 70 years to protect the Kelly family from "further distress."

But earlier this year, a group of medical experts and lawyers questioned the findings and demanded a reopening of the investigations in the form of a full inquest.

They claimed - among other discrepancies - that there was not enough blood at the scene of the death, and that there were contradictions about the position the body was found in.

As a first step in that process, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke Friday published the official post mortem and other documents.

The post-mortem, conducted by a government pathologist, concluded that the main cause of death was bleeding from a wound to Kelly's wrist "entirely consistent with being inflicted with a bladed weapon."

Kelly's body was found in woods near his home in Oxfordshire, north-west of London, in July, 2003.

Michael Powers, a leading expert on coroners' law and critic of the Hutton report, said Friday: "Suicide cannot be presumed, it must be proven."

"From the evidence that we have as to the circumstances of his death, in particular the aspect of haemorrhage, we do not believe that there was sufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he (Kelly) killed himself."

Clarke said he decided to published the documents "in the interests of maintaining public confidence in the inquiry into how Dr Kelly came to his death."

The lawyer of Kelly's widow and daughters said they would make no comment.