- Dr David Kelly is the first British citizen whose sudden,
unexpected and violent death has been denied an inquest. Three weeks after
Dr Kelly's body was found, Lord Falconer ordered that the inquest into
his death be adjourned indefinitely and subsumed into a public inquiry
by invoking section 17a of the Coroner's Act 1988.
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- The section is designed to avoid duplication of inquiry
in cases of multiple deaths where the cause of death can, to some extent,
be assumed from the outset. But Dr Kelly's was a solitary death coming
amid a political storm concerning doubts over the government's case for
war with Iraq, and its cause required rigorous investigation. The Hutton
inquiry had no power to call a jury, subpoena witnesses or cross-examine
them under oath.
-
- Disquiet expressed recently by paramedics over finding
very little blood at the scene of Dr Kelly's death gives credence to our
view that it is highly improbable Dr Kelly died of haemorrhage from a transected
ulnar artery. From such a wound he would have lost only about a pint of
blood, and for death to occur he would need to have lost some five pints.
And co-proxamol levels in his blood were one-third of what is normally
regarded as a fatal dose.
-
- In his report, Lord Hutton confirmed that he had seen
a photograph of Dr Kelly lying with his head against the base of a tree.
Two volunteer searchers stated they found Dr Kelly's body slumped against
a tree. Yet the paramedics who arrived later, and five other witnesses,
including the forensic pathologist, reported that the body was flat on
its back a foot from the tree. Police photographed the body in this position.
Given that there is photographic evidence showing the body in two different
positions, it must be determined who moved the body, when and why.
-
- The law requires a verdict of suicide to be proved beyond
reasonable doubt. Why should Dr Kelly's death receive less scrutiny than
any other sudden, unexpected and violent death? As things stand, suicide
has not been proved, and we still do not know how he died.
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- Dr Michael Powers QC
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- Martin Birnstingl
- Specialist in vascular surgery
-
- Chris Burns-Cox
- Specialist in internal general medicine
-
- C Stephen Frost
- Specialist in diagnostic radiology
-
- David Halpin
- Specialist in orthopaedic and trauma surgery
-
- William McQuillan
- Specialist in orthopaedic and trauma surgery
-
- Andrew Rouse
- Consultant in public health
-
- John Henry Scurr
- Specialist in vascular surgery
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- Searle Sennett
- Specialist in anaesthesiology
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- rowenathursby@onetel.com
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5090715-103683,00.html
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