Two Pathologists

A Dinner at an Oxford College

Late in the evening a dinner at an Oxford College was almost over. Food had been eaten, wine had been drunk and now the port was being passed around.

A guest at the dinner began to chat to his neighbour on the top table; the neighbour was a Member of the college. The Member, rather by chance, told me of this incident in 2012, seven years after it happened – in 2005.

The guest said that he was a forensic pathologist from out of town – by over a 100 miles. In the course of their conversation the name “Longworth” arose and to the surprise of the Member the pathologist knew of it.

He explained that he had been called there to attend to Dr David Kelly’s body on the hill. He arrived very quickly as he was in the area. He had examined the body briefly and then reported his initial opinion upwards – to either the Coroners Office or the Home Office.

His view was that he had no idea what the cause of death was. It wasn’t blood loss and the wrist wounds were not self inflicted!

I am not sure who received this news but after a brief interval the pathologist was relieved of his duties as far as Dr Kelly was concerned. He may well have been advised to keep these views to himself.

Forensic pathologists are not usually salaried but get paid a fee for the work they do. If work is not referred to them – then they have no income.

I will call the pathologist “Dr L T” or the “First Pathologist” – and he was removed from the Dr David Kelly case.

However, while attending David Kelly’s body I believe he met another doctor – Dr Kelly’s GP. Dr L T admonished Dr Warner and the police officer for moving David Kelly’s body – but understood the GP’s well-intentioned motives. He no doubt told Dr Warner of his thoughts on David Kelly’s death.

Dr Warner

It was perfectly reasonable for Dr Warner to take the sight of a dead patient with slashed wrists as a reasonably obvious suicide.

But with the expert comments from Dr L T he was now aware that things were not as they appeared to be.

When, a few days later, another pathologist – a Dr Hunt – declared a totally different opinion, Dr Warner realised that there were unseen forces at work.

Dr Warner didn’t like the apparently emerging cover-up and decided he was going to keep it at arm’s length.

Dr Hunt gave the time of death as 8:45 pm +/- 4:30. Dr Warner recalled that David Kelly’s body had no signs of rigor mortis when he moved it. Had there been well developed rigor mortis, then David Kelly’s body would have remained sitting up – a ghoulish sight. Nor was there rigor mortis in his right hand when he tried to feel for a pulse.

Dr Warner had dealt with many recently deceased patients and knew that the time of death given by Dr Hunt couldn’t be true. If there was no obvious rigor mortis at about 09:00 on that morning – then he guessed David Kelly could have died about 6 hours earlier – say 03:00. This is outside the range given by Dr Hunt.

When the Hutton Inquiry evolved Dr Warner decided that he wouldn’t get involved as he was far from clear what had been going on and didn’t want to be party to any deception.

However, there are many ways, fair and foul, in which he could be persuaded to attend. It was almost essential that the deceased’s GP attend. I think that he agreed to attend but with an agreed scripted series of questions and answers.

Thus we have Dr Warner’s bizarre appearance at the HI.

Dr L T

I am fairly certain that I know who the “First Pathologist” is. I have studied much of his prior work in many ways he “fits” the role. I have met him and discussed the matter but he will not admit to having been involved. In fact he went to considerable trouble to explain how it couldn’t have been him and must have been Dr Hunt; I thought - “he doth protest too much?” – and that rather confirmed my opinion.

in remaining silent upon the matter of David Kelly’s death, he is carrying a significant moral, ethical and professional burden. In short he is not admitting to having had any role in David Kelly’s death.

In these circumstances what we need is a Court of Law – such as a Coroner’s Court - with powers of formal summons followed by questioning under oath. This is precisely what the Hutton Inquiry was not.

Dr L T’s Visit

Dr L T was a member of Forensic Pathology Services (FPS). This was a partnership of a dozen Forensic Pathologists that provided an extensive Forensic Pathology services in the south-east of England.

The offices of FPS are on the Culham Science Park, Abingdon – about 12 miles from Harrowdown Hill.

I can only imagine that Dr L T was at his FPS office early on the morning of the 18th July 2003. It was here that he probably received the call to go to Harrowdown Hill to attend to the body found there.

There is a detail in his account given at the Oxford College dinner – and that is he knew where “Appleton” was. Appleton is a small village 4 miles east of Longworth.

It seems probable that Dr L T was advised to take a road route to Longworth that included Appleton.

Such a route is shown on the map above. It is a journey of 15 miles – about 25 minutes.

The “First Pathologist” – what next?

The First Pathologist’s reaction to C&C’s attempt to make David Kelly’s death look like suicide was a complete failure.

This was a catastrophic outcome. Matters were going from bad to unbelievably disastrous.

C&C had to fix this matter ASAP - and by any means whatsoever.

While this was happening Lord Charles Falconer was talking to Prime Minister Tony Blair (in flight to Tokyo). Falconer was also recruiting the retired Lord Brian Hutton to lead an Inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly – whose body had yet to be identified.

The “Second Pathologist”

C&C had to find another Forensic Pathologist ASAP. As I’ve explained Forensic Pathologists are usually paid a fee per post mortem performed; they are not salaried.

Therefore, if a Forensic Pathologist doesn’t get referred post mortems, he has no income.

If a newly qualified Forensic Pathologist, with a family and a mortgage, is threatened with penury he may well comply with unreasonable requests.

C&C promptly ordered that Dr Nicholas Hunt be ordered to go to Longworth.

Dr Nicholas Hunt

Dr Nicholas Charles Alexander Hunt was a doctor whose name had just been added to the list of Home Office approved Forensic Pathologists in 2002. He was the youngest, least experienced and least qualified pathologist in the FPS partnership.

When a doctor is appointed to a Consultant or equivalent grade in the UK they must have passed the examinations of the appropriate Royal Colleges. For a pathologist this would be the examinations set by The Royal College of Pathologists.

In addition, they must also have a Certificate of Completion of Higher Training (CCHT). This confirms that the doctor has completed an approved Period of Higher Training in his speciality.

Dr Hunt doesn’t have a CCHT and is listed by the General Medical Council as having no Specialist Training; as far as they are concerned he is not a GP and not a Specialist.

About a year after Dr Hunt’s appearance on the Home Office List the need for a CCHT was mandated.

Friday 18th July

On the day Dr Kelly’s body was found Dr Hunt was “off-duty” having committed to work on case reviews at the National Crime Faculty in Bramshill, Hampshire. This was a fairly regular process of getting together various team members to discuss aspects of either current or “cold” cases. It was likely that this was a whole day’s commitment.

But – at about 10:30 Dr Hunt’s telephone rang – if only he’d switched it off! He had a call from the Home Office that left him in no doubt that, whatever he was doing, he had to drop it and get to Longworth as fast as he could.

He was probably told sometime that these instructions came from the Home Office – possibly Lord Falconer - and as a matter of national security he had to follow instructions to the letter. He was reminded that he had signed the very onerous Official Secrets Act 1989.

He was also told to discuss his findings with C&C and take C&C’s advice on how these should be represented.

Dr Hunt duly left the meeting at Bramshill in Hampshire. He made his way to an unfamiliar part of Oxfordshire – Longworth – a distance of about 50 miles. He arrived at the police cordon at 12:00. That is why it took over three hours for a forensic pathologist to arrive following the find of the body at 08:45.

Most of the events at Harrowdown Hill were routine except for the measurement of temperatures.

Temperatures

Temperature measurements are essential in estimating the time of death (TOD) and must be done ASAP.

The air temperature was measured as 20.8˚C.

The core body temperature was measured as rectal temperature and given as 24˚C.

Why was the air temperature to 0.1˚C but the rectal temperature, apparently, to 1˚C? What sort of thermometer did Dr Hunt have – a jam making thermometer?

Sadly the temperature was taken at the very end of the field examination at 19:15. This seriously degraded the value of the method of estimating the TOD.

A valuable core temperature could have been taken when Dr Hunt arrived - a little after 12:00. He could have used a needle type thermistor probe (see picture). This could have been inserted directly through the skin into the liver and got an early, accurate core temperature reading.
          
Finally, he failed to measure the ground surface temperature beneath David Kelly’s body. This was needed to produce a true corrected ambient temperature; these are the written instructions on Dr Henssge’s nomogram – see below.

Dr Hunt would have used a graphical device (a Henssge nomogram) to estimate the TOD. This needs four measurements –

• core body temperature (of questionable accuracy)
• body weight (seriously in error) and
• ambient temperature (ground temperature not measured) – only air temperature)

Dr Hunt’s estimate of the time of death seems to have been conjured out of thin air – neither I nor others can replicate it.

The Post Mortem

Dr Hunt had arranged, or been told, to perform the post mortem examination of David Kelly’s body on the evening of the 18th July. This was at the mortuary of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The post mortem began at 9:20pm and finished at 0:15am. This was an exceptional decision – as routine post mortems are done a few hours later – from about 06:00.

The other exceptional feature of the post mortem was the number of observers.

It’s not unusual to have a doctor, who has looked after the deceased, attend a post mortem.

Similarly, a police officer with a special interest in a death of someone might attend a post mortem – both to tell the pathologist what he knew of the deceased – and to see first hand the pathologist’s findings.

Dr Hunt’s post mortem was observed/attended by no less nine police officers. They ranged from DCI Alan Young, in charge of Operation Mason to Sally Hunt from the Coroner’s Office; and this, late in the evening of a Friday night.

Dr Hunt’s post mortem was more than usually invasive and I wouldn’t have been surprised if a number of the gathered witnesses didn’t faint.

But why nine police officers as observers?

My guess is that C&C wanted to let Dr Hunt know that his every move, his every comment (recorded) and finding was going to be observed by a phalanx of police officers. Thus there were nine TVP officers acting as witnesses to the post mortem. There is little doubt that Dr Hunt would have felt both intimidated and distracted by this extraordinary gathering.

In all the circumstances this post mortem must have been an immensely stressful procedure for this young pathologist.

The Post Mortem Report

The findings of the post mortem were fairly routine. It contains many minor errors – probably attributable to stress imposed on Dr Hunt.

There are just five matters I want to mention.

1. David Kelly’s weight is given as 59kg. We know from his last MOD medical that he weighed 74kg clothed – corresponding to a naked weight of 71kg. This weighing error casts doubt on the weights of body organs. Dr Hunt makes one massive error in recording the weight of the liver as 136g rather than about 1500g. I would put this down to the duress he was working under.
2. Minor superficial injuries - he seems to have given a very detailed description of body marks – and these are referred to in Chapter 8 “What to do with his body?”
3. Wrist artefacts - he has given a detailed description of the wrist artefacts – and these are dealt with in Chapter 4 “The Cut Wrist”.
4. Heart – this was the only organ to show any natural pathology. In most respects the heart appeared normal. But – cutting through the coronary artery’s revealed severe and extensive arterial disease.
   
   The coronary arteries arise from the base of the aorta and spread out, like the roots of a tree, to carry blood to the muscle of the heart. There are two main coronary arteries – Right and Left – supplying the two ventricles of the heart.
   
   
   
   Right Coronary Artery –
   
   ➢ almost 100% blockage
   
   Left Coronary Artery –
   
   ➢ the left anterior descending artery – 70% blockage with an old complete blockage, now cleared, further on
   
   ➢ the circumflex artery – 65% blockage
   
   This description of David Kelly’s coronary arteries indicates very severe disease.
   
   It would be typical of a person who smoked or who had a very adverse lifestyle or diet.
   
   This degree of disease may have caused heart muscle pain on exertion – a pain called angina. Dr Kelly had visited his GP in 1983 saying he thought he might have angina but nothing seemed to have come of the visit.
   
   What is clear, however, is that David Kelly didn’t die from a blood clot, or thrombus, in his one of his coronary arteries – a common cause of a “heart attack”.
   
   He died from a different type of heart attack.
5. Chest wall – he records “a small group of post mortem “abrasions” over the upper chest suggestive of insect activity”.
   
   Insect lesions are potentially very important in forensic studies. However, the time scale of these changes is usually measured in days and weeks – not in hours.
   
   In the short time that David Kelly’s body had been in the copse it’s unlikely significant insect activity would have occurred. No more than might a camper encounter overnight.
   
   If there were such activity it would be probably found on the exposed parts of limbs or on the head and neck.
   
   I have been told that when David Kelly’s body was taken to The Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading the staff found two adhesive electrodes on his chest. These were not ECG electrodes but defibrillator electrodes. The hospital staff may have been unfamiliar with these devices as metal paddle electrodes were still in routine use in hospitals.
   
   These defibrillator electrodes are very adhesive – for obvious reasons.
   
   I believe that when these electrodes were pulled off they left behind two patches of hairless chest and minor fine, red rashes or “abrasions” as Dr Hunt chooses to call them.

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David Kelly’s GP – Dr Warner

David Kelly’s GP

The behaviour of David Kelly’s general practitioner (GP) following his death should not have attracted any great attention.

But it did.

I have no doubt that Dr Warner is a totally honest and reliable doctor.

But - I believe that he found himself caught in a complex scenario. He thought his best option was to go into denial.

By so doing he has left a trail of enigmas.

Dr Malcolm Warner’s full name is Malcolm David Warner. He was born in Dorset in 1947; in 1971 he married Christine Hills in Hampstead.

Malcolm Warner qualified MB BS from the Royal London Hospital in 1973; he should have qualified in 1972 – but slipped back a year. After his one year of “house jobs”, he spent some time in children’s medicine.

He moved to Faringdon in 1975 and joined the White Horse Medical Practice. This is in the old Oxfordshire market town of Faringdon – beneath the Uffington White Horse. He remained here until his retirement in 2007. Then he moved to Newton Abbot in Devon.

His practice was computerised in 2002 and had a website by 2005 –

http://whmp.co.uk

Friday 18 July 2003

A regular Thursday was about to become irregular. Dr Warner was at the surgery when it opened at 08:30. Within a few minutes a Thames Valley Police (TVP) car arrived. Two TVP officers had come to talk to David Kelly’s GP – Dr Malcolm Warner. Details of this are here – item 45 on page 21 -

https://tinyurl.com/y7tfnrag

They explained that David Kelly was missing.

They wanted to know if he needed any drugs etc. Was he diabetic, epileptic or had any other critical illnesses?

The answer was no.

As they were about to leave, news came across the radio that a body had been found. This was at about 09:00. They told Dr Warner of this find – in confidence.

As they went to leave, staff of Operation Mason called them. This was the TVP operation set up to look for David Kelly. Would Dr Warner be prepared to identify the body found on Harrowdown Hill?

A family member would often be asked to identify a body. This didn’t seem an appropriate option on this occasion. Otherwise, a person of some standing in the community who knew the deceased – a vicar, doctor or similar. David Kelly didn’t attend the Church so his GP was an obvious choice.

Whilst DC Coe had little doubt that the body was that of David Kelly, an independent identification was necessary. The more so because of David Kelly’s VIP status.

David Kelly's body as found by the Searchers at 08:45

Dr Warner had a fair workload that morning. He asked the surgery staff to do their best to rearrange his work while he went with the police. By 09:15 Dr Warner had arrived at Harrowdown Hill.

Dr Warner was driven to Harrowdown Hill copse. One of DC Coe’s trio led him to the body. Dr Warner agreed that this was Dr David Kelly. However, he couldn’t examine him properly as he was slumped up against the tree.

My medical colleagues assure me that doctors are trained, from day one, to examine patients in a specific way. Dr Warner had been doing this for 30 years. They need the patient to be almost flat save for a pillow or similar. They will examine the patient from the patient’s right-hand side. Even left-handed doctors are trained so.

David Kelly's body as found by the Paramedics at 10:00

Thus, Dr Warner asked one of the Coe trio help him move the body onto flat ground; this was done and the body ended up clear of the tree by about 18″.

Then he could check the pupils, feel for a carotid artery pulse, look for any signs of breathing and listen to his chest, with a stethoscope, for any sounds of breathing or heartbeats. As a matter of routine, he picked up the right arm to feel for a radial pulse. There was none and with great care and sadness he put the right arm down across the chest.

He noticed that the body was cool but there was no rigor mortis.

There were obvious incisions at the left wrist surrounded by some blood.

He told the Coe trio that the body was that of his patient Dr David Kelly – and he that he was dead. DC Coe and his fellow officers thanked Dr Warner for his time.

He was driven back to his surgery as quickly as he came.

Another Doctor

As Dr Warner was about to leave David Kelly’s body, another doctor arrived on the scene. I will explain this in Chapter 12. Suffice it to say that the second Dr – lets call him Dr LT – briefly discussed the condition of David Kelly’s body with Dr Warner before they departed.

The account above - Dr Warner

Much of my account above of Dr Warner’s conduct is speculative.

But – there are reasons for these conclusions:

• We know that TVP officers called on Dr Warner to find out about his medical needs.
• This could only have happened when it was assumed David Kelly was alive. The information was irrelevant if he had died.
• Dr Warner’s surgery opened at 08;30. The body was found at 08:45.
• The TVP officers were at or near Dr Warner when they heard that a body had been found.
• Dr Warner was the obvious choice to provide an independent identification – as well as certifying death.
• It is clear that someone moved David Kelly’s body. It was reported by both the searchers to be slumped against the tree. When the paramedics arrived it was flat and well clear of the tree.
• Both Dr Hunt, the pathologist, and PC Sawyer described how David Kelly’s jean bottoms were pulled upwards.
• Moving David Kelly’s body from a position slumped up against a tree to a clear flat position is entirely reasonable if a doctor wanted to examine the person properly.

Mr Robert Jackson MP

In 2003 Robert Jackson was the Conservative MP for Wantage, Oxfordshire, and had been for 20 years.

He lived in Southmoor – less than a mile from the Kelly family. Mr Jackson knew Mrs Kelly and had met David Kelly briefly.

After David Kelly’s death, he received various messages – mostly covert – about his late constituent – David Kelly. These were to the effect that things were not as they seemed – and his death should be looked into.

But, he didn’t know what to make of these messages. They could have been political propaganda directed against the then Prime Minister – Tony Blair. He didn’t follow up any of these messages – but remained concerned about the matter.

A month or so after David Kelly’s death he went to see his GP – Dr Malcolm Warner – about a routine medical matter. In light of his concerns and in the midst of the consultation he asked Dr Warner if he had an opinion about David Kelly’s death.

Dr Warner responded by saying that indeed he did - he had been to see his body on Harrowdown Hill. There was no doubt that he had slashed wrists and it looked like an obvious suicide.

Mr Jackson didn’t doubt this account and took it as clear primary evidence of the facts. An account of this meeting was later reported in the press in March 2011.

Dr Warner no doubt gave this account to Mr Jackson as consistent with the “official version”.

I believe that Dr Warner knew of a different version of events - from his encounter with Dr LT.

But he wasn’t prepared to share this alternative version with Mr Jackson.

Thus Robert Jackson left Dr Warner’s surgery reassured about the cause of David Kelly’s death.

Finally – it is possible that Dr Warner had breached some esoteric aspect of patient confidentiality. He may have been back-pedalling from this.

Communications

I wrote to and spoke to Robert Jackson concerning this issue. His account is just as I described it above and he is no doubt that Dr Warner went to see David Kelly’s body on Harrowdown Hill.

I have also written to and spoken to Dr Malcolm Warner. Dr Warner completely contradicts Robert Jackson’s account. He denies having been to Harrowdown Hill.

His final comment is – as it has always been to me and others –

“this accords with my evidence to the Hutton inquiry.”

He was very reluctant, as opposed to being very open, to discuss this matter at all. He always resorted to referring to his evidence at the HI as the end of the matter.

But it’s almost the beginning of a matter – because Dr Warner’s “evidence” to the HI stands out like a flashing red light.

Dr Warner – Anomalies

1. There is a clear report - given by Robert Jackson MP – that Dr Warner saw David Kelly’s body on Harrowdown Hill.
2. Dr Warner has often referred to his account* of events at the Hutton Inquiry (HI) as his final words on the matter.

Dr Warner’s Account* at HI

* Statements made at the HI were not under oath and I prefer the term account as opposed to evidence or testimony. These words convey a sense of legality that is misleading.

• His Name - The first anomaly is his answer to the first Question
  
  Q: MR KNOX: Dr Warner, can you tell the Inquiry your full name?
  Like every other attendee at the HI he should have given his full name as –
  
  “Malcolm David Warner”
  
  But no, as though reading from a script, he says –
  
  A: Dr WARNER: I am Dr Malcolm Warner.
  
  He failed to give his full name and gave his shortened name plus his title. I wonder if he was reading from a prepared script?
• His Answers - Dr Warner was David Kelly’s GP for many years - also GP to the other four members of the Kelly family. He was in a perfect position to answer a myriad questions about David Kelly and his family.
  
  Instead Dr Hawton – the psychiatrist, answered these questions - after a fashion. Dr Hawton seems to have been imported and spent time with the Kelly family getting to know them and the late David Kelly.
  
  Dr Hawton then answered many questions about the Kelly family and David Kelly – although he had never met him. He seemed to be acting as a posthumous locum GP.
  
  Dr Warner could have answered most of these questions – but he did not.
  
  A most remarkable feature of Dr Warner’s answers is their amazing brevity. The total number of words spoken by Dr Warner amounted to just 74!
  
  Dr Hawton’s answers ran to 6,639 words – 90 times as much as Dr Warner had to say.
  
  My immediate reaction to this is that Dr Warner didn’t want to be at the HI. He went under some duress, answered a minimal number of agreed questions and left. A token appearance.
  
  The absurd brevity of his answers doesn’t give his appearance any credibility. For all practical purposes he may as well have stayed in Faringdon.
• Analysis of his Answers - I am greatly indebted to a scientific colleague and friend. He wrote a computer programme that analysed in detail the whole of the text of the HI Transcripts that can be found here –

https://tinyurl.com/yaeenwt5

This amounted to just over 860,000 words in total. Of these Dr Warner contributed 74.

The vertical bar on the extreme left has a value of four and represents the average length of Dr Warner’s answers compared to everyone else’s.

One witness managed to average 79 words per answer (Terence Taylor – a defence expert).

If we look at everyone’s answers we find that the average length of an answer was 33 words.

Dr Warner’s answers averaged just four words per answer – hardly an intelligent sentence.

Graph of average number of words per individual
answer for each attendee

Statistically Dr Warner’s answers were very, very out of the ordinary.

If we look at the total words in each person’s answers we get the following graph.

Graph of total words in all answers per attendee

The average number of words per witness for all the their answers was 4,970.

Dr Warner’s answer ran to a total of 74 – it is on the absolute extreme left of the graph. It is so little it that it can’t be shown on this graph.

The bar on the extreme left shows the total number of words spoken by Dr Warner. The least of all the 78 witnesses. The bar to the right of Dr Warner’s are some brief technical questions to the HI’s Secretary.

Dr Warner’s answers were very abnormal and very atypical.

Intuitively, I don’t think he wanted to be at the HI. The extraordinary paucity of his account – 74 words – seems entirely consistent with this.

I think that he may be an example of a witness who didn’t want to attend. But did attend as a result of some duress – many forms of which could be applied to a family GP.

Why wouldn’t he want to attend the HI? I can explain this in Chapter 12.

Graph of total words in ten shortest answers

3. Examination of Evidence submitted to the Inquiry by TVP – Statements

This is a list of statements made to TVP. The list was released in 2011. We know that it has a significant number of missing statements eg Tucks Lane resident, amongst many others. It is here –

https://tinyurl.com/yaeb3pxw

The list contains 265 documents of which 200 are covert; the remaining 65 are available to the public – just 25% of the total.

Twenty-five confidential statements involve medical correspondence about David Kelly and Dr Warner – mostly in respect of medical letters – dating from 1979 to 1996.

The statements are recorded by Volume and Page Numbers. Thus TVP/4/0016-18 – would be a document in Volume 4 and on Pages 16 to 18 inclusive.

In TVP’s Volume 1, Dr Warner was the seventh person (out of more than 200) to have given a statement to TVP – on page 39.

The eighth person was David Bartlett, one of the paramedics, and the ninth person was Vanessa Hunt, the other paramedic.

Both paramedics were sent to Harrowdown Hill.

It is strange that Dr Warner, who denies having been to Harrowdown Hill, has given a statement to TVP that is filed immediately before those of the two paramedics who did go to Harrowdown Hill.

TVP Volume 1:

Witness statement: David Malcolm Warner - not for release - personal witness statement	TVP/1/0039
Witness statement: David Ian Bartlett - not for release - personal witness statement	TVP/1/0040 - 0041
Witness statement: Vanessa Elizabeth Hunt - not for release - personal witness statement	TVP/1/0042 – 0045

On the 28th July – ten days after David Kelly’s death - Ruth Rees, a Coroner’s Officer in Oxford, wrote to Dr Warner. He replied on the 4th August. This may well have been routine correspondence – but it is not made public because it is classed as “Police operational information”; perhaps it wasn’t routine correspondence after all.

TVP Volume 10:

Letter: Dr Malcolm Warner / Coroner's Officer 04.08.03 - not for release - Police operational information	TVP/10/0123
Letter: Ruth Rees (coroner's officer) / Dr M Warner 28.07.03 - not for release - Police operational information	TVP/10/0124

Conclusion

1. We have a clear statement from Robert Jackson MP that Dr Warner told him that he had been to see David Kelly’s body.
2. We have a great deal of circumstantial evidence to support Robert Jackson’s statement.
3. Dr Warner now denies having any involvement with David Kelly’s body on Harrowdown Hill.
4. Dr Warner, when pressed for information, simply says, “this accords with my evidence to the Hutton inquiry”.
5. Yet his account at the HI is manifestly very atypical, very abnormal.
6. I think I may be able to explain this anomaly in Chapter 12.

Please let me know of any facts that you know concerning David Kelly’s death. Send them to me via the Signal App

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The Paramedic Team

The Paramedics

Vanessa Hunt and David Bartlett received a call, at about 09:40, to go to Longworth – to the end of Tucks Lane. They were a very experienced crew and had seen most sorts of human mishaps that you could imagine. I interviewed them several times; they told me a great deal of detail about their visit – which was very important detail.

Vanessa Hunt and David Bartlett

This information would have been uncovered by detailed, rigorous questioning by a lawyer. But – at the Hutton Inquiry that sort of activity didn’t seem to happen; indeed the very opposite seem commonplace. When an interesting, and perhaps unforeseen, matter arose the legal questioning simply went off in another direction.

Vanessa Hunt said that it was clear to her that, at the Hutton Inquiry, Lord Hutton “wanted me out of there as fast as possible”.

En route to Longworth they were given the code call “Kilo one” – this means “someone thought to be dead – but not yet proven”.

Given the rural location they expected to find a hanging or a shooting.

They arrived at the end of Tuck’s Lane at 09:55. There were police vans and a lot of policemen on site - completely beyond normal experience or expectations.

There were uniformed officers, CID officers and much to their surprise there were officers clad in black only – that they recognised as members of the Armed Response Unit. In all some 30–40 officers.

They had assumed they were attending a routine call-out. However, it was very clear that they had arrived at a totally exceptional event - they wondered what on earth they were going to find.

A police sergeant who met them wouldn’t let them take the ambulance any further.
They recalled his name very clearly; he answered his radio with the name Dad; later they found out that this was Dadd – Sergeant Alan Dadd.

They collected all they could carry and walked almost half a mile to the copse on Harrowdown Hill. The sergeant turned sharp left and walked up into the copse – between branches and bushes. Here they saw David Kelly’s body flat on its back with his head some 18″ from a tree trunk.

Vanessa Hunt told me that the body had been left unattended. She had never been lead to a body that had no police officer looking after it. In her experience this was unique – yet there were well over 30 police officers on the site.

David Bartlett’s reaction to the scene was that it looked as though David Kelly’s body had fallen out of the tree; as though an attempted suicide by hanging had gone wrong.

A very odd scene

I describe events as told to me by Vanessa Hunt & David Bartlett.

They knew immediately that things were not right.

David Kelly’s body, above as found by the searchers,
below as found by the paramedics

• First - there was no police officer with the body – it was quite unattended when they arrived.
• Second – no taped, protected pathway had been set up – they just had to follow Sergeant Dadd as he found his way to the body.
• Third – why was an apparent suicide was not sat against the tree trunk? It seemed the obvious position to find the body. They asked “has he fallen out of the tree” in an attempted hanging?
• Fourth – there was a water bottle, standing upright, a watch and knife neatly put in line up on the left side of the body. Assuming that the deceased was right handed (which he was), they would have expected these to be put to his right hand side.
• Fifth – as they arrived two police officers walked up behind then. These were presumably PCs Franklin and Sawyer.
  
  At the HI, these officers describe a different account – namely that they arrived first and the paramedics arrived two minutes later. Vanessa Hunt is clear that they were there first.
  
  Vanessa Hunt then prepared to perform an ECG recording but PC Sawyer wanted to take photographs first.
• Sixth – an ordinary PC took the photographs with what seemed to be a personal camera. She would have expected a Scenes of Crime Officer (SOCO) to do these.
  
  When allowed, Vanessa Hunt unbuttoned David Kelly’s shirt and applied four ECG electrodes to his chest. The recording was of a dead heart – a flat line.
  
  However, Vanessa Hunt had trouble applying one of the ECG electrodes on the right-hand side of the chest.
• David Kelly’s right arm was lying on his chest and had well-developed rigor mortis. This is perfectly normal for a body that has been dead for some time. She had to work her way around the rigid right arm to get the electrodes in the correct position.
• One of the first things that David Bartlett commented on to me when I met him were the two striking and unusual brown marks on David Kelly’s face.
  
  He said that it simply couldn’t be vomit because it was so symmetrical; vomit would have run over from one side of the mouth or other – but not both.
  
  He mentioned this at the Hutton Inquiry. The Questions & Answers went thus –
  
  Q. What about the face? Did you notice anything about the face?
  A. Yes, going from the corners of the mouth were two stains, one slightly longer than the other.
  
  Q. Where did the stains go to from the mouth?
  A. Towards the bottom of the ears.
  
  Q. Did you check for a pulse?
  
  The last question was the typical of the Hutton Inquiry – a quick side step when an unplanned issue arose.
• Vanessa Hunt had to get down on her knees to put the ECG electrodes onto David Kelly’s chest.
  
  She too saw the brown marks on the face of David Kelly. They ran from the corners of his mouth to below his ears. They were so obvious and unusual that Vanessa Hunt wondered if David Kelly had had a gag wrapped around his neck and across his mouth.

Brown Marks on Face

It is very clear that both Vanessa Hunt and David Bartlett considered the two brown marks on David Kelly’s bearded face very distinctive and unusual.

I can explain these significant observations later – and they are very important.

PC Martyn Sawyer

In response to a question, at the Hutton Inquiry, about David Kelly’s clothing PC Sawyer said –

“His jeans -- he was wearing jeans, they were pulled up slightly, exposing the lower half of his leg or his ankle. It looked as if he had slid down and his trousers had ridden up.”

Dr Hunt – pathologist

It is worth adding here Dr Hunt’s observations of David Kelly’s trousers –

“The left leg of the jeans was pulled up to approximately mid-calf level. The right leg was pulled up to just above the ankle”

These observation fit exactly the effect of moving David Kelly’s away from the tree.

Sergeant Allan DADD

The TVP search team assembled at Abingdon Police Station was lead by PC Martyn Sawyer accompanied by PC Franklin.

They had arrived at the Harrowdown Hill area a little before the paramedics arrived.

The paramedics were met and escorted to and from David Kelly’s body by a Sergeant - Sergeant Allan Dadd.

It is strange that at the Hutton Inquiry it is said that PC Sawyer led the search team. But the paramedics sensed that Sergeant Dadd was in control of the site.

Sergeant Dadd, PC Sawyer and PC Franklin were all embers of the Thames Valley Police Support Team based at Windsor Great Park.

Sergeant Dadd lived in Winnersh – a suburb of Reading – about 5 miles east of Reading town centre.

What was a TVP Sergeant from Reading doing on Harrowdown Hill that morning?

We don’t know - all we know is that he didn’t contribute to the Hutton Inquiry yet was present at Harrowdown Hill in a position of some seniority.

Please let me know of any facts that you know concerning David Kelly’s death. Send them to me via the Signal App

This App is totally secure – the only one – and is simple to install.

Download it to your mobile phone (Android or iOS). You need to enter your telephone number and a PIN of your choice – and the system is then go. There are the options to add “a name” or photo etc.

My previous gmail address was secure – but it was not secure against government agencies – eg GCHQ / MI5. Google is happy to comply with government “Authorities” and give them access to email traffic.

If you have sent me information previously please consider sending it to me again.

My Contacts:

Signal App - my number - UK 07 788 656 411

- International 447 788 656 411

Signal App - for info - https://mashable.com/article/what-is-signal-app

Or post: Dr John EVANS, 55 Eaton Road, Appleton, Oxon, OX13 5JH

The search for Dr David KELLY

Three search teams were involved –

1. Helicopter Team – who did two searches
2. Ground humans, two + dog
3. TVP team – deployed only after David KELLY’S body had been found.

Team 3 was put into the field about an hour after David Kelly’s body was found.

In this Chapter I will describe how the search for David Kelly happened.

A Report

Sian Kelly reported David Kelly as overdue at 23:45. This despite the fact that he should have been home from a short walk by 16:00 at the latest, according to Jan & Rachael Kelly. Three officers from TVP’s Abingdon Station appeared promptly at midnight.

Sergeant Simon Morris led this group. He requested that TVP’s helicopter be sent up to search the immediate locality. They would use their very sensitive infra-red thermal heat detection camera to look for a person or body.

The TVP Helicopter Search Team

Opposite is the Eurocopter EC135 T2+ registration G-CPSH (abbreviated call sign Golf-Sierra-Hotel) that conducted the searches.

At the lower front is a dark pod. It’s a LEO-2 thermal-imaging camera made by FLIR Systems Inc. It was a state of the art camera system that was exquisitely sensitive to body heat. The camera can’t always see through damp tree leaves for example – but it will see through the gaps in a leaf canopy as the camera moves overhead.

The first search by G-CPSH was diverted from an exiting task and arrived over Southmoor at 02:20 – local, BST time.

The flight log records this as 03:20 – but all UK flights are logged in UTC/GMT time; this was summer time so local time was an hour ahead of UTC. G-CPSH searched for 00:45 before returning to RAF Benson to re-fuel.

The second search started at 03:35 and lasted 00:40.

The crew of G-CPSH would usually comprise a pilot, a camera operator and at least an observer officer or two.

Body not found

The search area was relatively small – a rectangle from Southmoor to the Thames, downstream to Newbridge and back to Kingston Bagpuize – see map, right. An area of barely 3 square miles – that included Harrowdown Hill. Given this, it is clear that a total flight time of 85 minutes would have enabled a very thorough search.

Much of this ground is open-fields that could have been scanned very rapidly. They would have seen rabbits, hares, deer, cattle, cats and dogs as a matter of routine. Finding a warm human body would be a very easy target – even under some sort of cover.

They would have concentrated their search on these areas of leaf canopy – trees, bracken, copses etc.

But - both Search Logs are listed as – “Confirmed Clear”.

G-CPSH made another flight later in the day – from RAF Benson to Harrowdown Hill to take aerial photographs and videos of the site. It was overhead for 00:20 and landed briefly for 00:05.

At the foot of that Flight Log is an intriguing note –

“Helitele tested with Abingdon silver suite as passing Abingdon. A/O.”

“Helitele” is a slang word for the LEO-2 camera – or any other helicopter born aerial camera. It is derived from a very early camera system called Marconi Heli-Tele. The abbreviation “A/O” reads as “All OK”.

G-CPSH did a very careful search of the area where David Kelly’s body was found evidence of a person or recently dead body.

They declared the area was - “Confirmed Clear”. 

Camera Check

In view of the fact that David Kelly’s body was found on Harrowdown Hill – the crew of G-CPSH ran a test on their FLIR LEO-2 camera later at Abingdon and found it was working perfectly – and logged it as “All OK”.

The obvious conclusion that has to be drawn is that David Kelly’s body wasn’t on Harrowdown Hill when G-CPSH searched the area – up to 04:15.

His body arrived there sometime after 04:15.

TVP’s Helicopter Search Team and the Hutton Inquiry

This search team was a complete master at the art of finding warm bodies from the air. They made two comprehensive searches of the area – including Harrowdown Hill and found no body.

They would have seen cats, dogs, foxes, badgers, rabbits, etc.

If there was a warm body they would have found it.

Despite their findings and expertise they were not wanted at the Hutton Inquiry – their findings would not “fit” with their projected account of events.

TVP’s “Operation Mason”

Once TVP had committed to take David Kelly’s overdue walk seriously – a specific project was set up. This was “Operation Mason”. The name “Mason” was simply taken off an alphabetical list of project names; a routine procedure.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Young headed it. The operation was started with a retrospective time of 14:30 on Thursday the 17th; this was simply the time when David Kelly was, without doubt, last seen. It ended at 09:30 on the 18th – a total of 19 hours.

Two Police Forces and a Collision

As I said in Chapter 1, I believe David Kelly died 40 miles away – a fact known to some parts of TVP and other agencies. This part of TVP was now involved in a complex cover-up.

At Abingdon, however, TVP were treating David Kelly as a missing person and doing things by the book.

At some point, however, these two disparate operations would collide. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Young, Sergeant Simon Morris and their colleagues – functioning as regular TVP - would soon realise that some very irregular police activity was happening – that was quite outside of their control.

It is astonishing that DCI Alan Young who headed Operation Mason made no appearance at the Hutton Inquiry (HI); neither did Sergeant Simon Morris.

I said in Chapter 1 that I believed there were four classes of “witnesses” –

1. Those requested by Lord Hutton – who accepted his invitation
2. Those requested by Lord Hutton – who declined his invitation
3. Those requested by Lord Hutton - who declined his invitation – but were then pressurised to accept
4. Those not requested and not wanted by Lord Hutton – but who should have given evidence.

I suspect that DCI Alan Young and Sergeant Simon Morris were in class 2 – as were many others.

The Dog Search Team

Louise Holmes and Paul Chapman

The dog search team was, I believe, the fifth and last team to be deployed by TVP that night – as part of their cover-up.

It cannot be emphasised too much that this was, apart from the helicopter team, the one and only search team actually deployed by TVP.

TVP’s own search team was being assembled at Abingdon and arrived at Harrowdown Hill over an hour after David Kelly’s body was found.

The dog search team was, unlike the other four teams, a civilian resource recruited to help TVP.

Louise Holmes and Paul Chapman were awoken early that morning. They were members of the Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue team (SEBEV).

In the search for David Kelly only one search team was actually put on the ground by TVP – this was it.

Search Path

David Kelly could easily have walked anywhere within, at the minimum, 25 square miles of his home.

But - this team was tasked with searching a single short footpath. It was three quarters of a mile long – and took them within yards of his body.

They were clearly set up to find his body.

In other words, someone in TVP knew where the body was.

The Searcher’s followed the red
path. The red chevron marks David
Kelly’s body. The blue arrow
shows the wind direction; lower
red star is Westfield.

The very expert helicopter team hadn’t found a body - up to 04:15 of that night.

TVP’s own search team, led by PC Jonathan Sawyer, was still at TVP’s Abingdon station when David Kelly’s body was found.

They were woken up at about 5am and agreed to take part in the search request in Oxfordshire – over 40 miles - well away from their base and outside of their normal area.

Louise drove them to Abingdon Police station – arriving at about 7:15/30am.

Here SEBEV’s Control Manager and TVP officers briefed them. They were given copies of local maps and a photo of David Kelly.

They were told to go to the end of Common Lane (=Tucks Lane) in Longworth (upper red star on map). Then to search the footpath to the River Thames. This was about three-quarters of a mile away.

The Search Task

The footpath ran right past the east-side of the copse on Harrowdown Hill.

They were bound to pass within yards of David Kelly’s body.

They started from South to North with a wind from behind them.

The hill is a “plug” of Lower Corallian Silt – a form of limestone – in an area of softer Oxford Clay – part of the archaic River Thames flood plain. It is one of several similar minor hills along the line of the Thames in this area. It is 325ft above sea level and some 60ft above adjacent fields. The top of the hill is covered in a copse of deciduous trees.

They walked the footpath and climbed up into the south part of the Copse. They explored the south side of the copse. They were held back from further exploration by a wire fence running west to east.

It is likely that they came within a few yards of David Kelly’s body in this search of the south part. But – the wind was blowing through the copse and away from them.

They then walked back down to the footpath and went on towards the River Thames (B on map). Here they found a boat moored up to the bank.

They chatted to the three or four people on the boat. The boat people said that they had heard the helicopter that night. But - they had no knowledge of the missing David Kelly. They also mention the sight of police officers in the field earlier on – see below.

Louise Holmes, Paul Chapman and Brock then turned around heading back south into a south-west breeze.

A body

As they walked south they would cross the breeze coming through and down from the Copse on Harrowdown Hill. At this point Brock, the search dog – right -should pick up the scent of David Kelly – and that is just what he did. He ran off into the copse. Louise Holmes followed into the copse and she saw a body slumped against the bottom of a tree.

She got to within a few feet of the body. She recognised it as that of Dr Kelly – from the photograph she had.

At the Inquiry she said –

• he was at the base of the tree with almost his head and his shoulders just slumped back against the tree
• his legs were straight in front of him
• his right arm was to the side of him 
• his left arm had a lot of blood on it and was bent back in a funny position 
• she had no doubt that he was dead

She also said - about Mr Chapman - that he was further back than she was. He stayed back to telephone Abingdon control.

Paul Chapman described the scene at the Inquiry –

• he was sitting with his back up against a tree and 
• there was an obvious injury to his left arm
• it was all covered in blood

Position of David Kelly’s Body

The position of David Kelly’s body became contentious. The searchers gave a clear account of one position.

Later, the paramedics and others gave a very different account.

Why did the body move; who moved it; why is it not explained?

Lord Brian Hutton, however, chooses to fudge and ignore the issues that arose.

The issue of the position of the body will be dealt with separately.

I believe that the change in the position of the body can now be explained.

And it is of immense importance.

Time of Finding Body

This critical matter seems clouded in mystery and isn’t even raised by Lord Brian Hutton. 09:20 is often given as the time the body was found.

However, modelling the search path described, starting at 08:00, I and other scientist colleagues, estimate that 08:45 is a more probable time.

In fact Paul Chapman’s first statement to a TVP officer that morning (shown in the Hutton Inquiry Publication) is timed at 09:15 – so 09:20 is clearly wrong.

Reporting the find of David Kelly’s body

Once Brock and Louise Holmes had found David Kelly’s body, Paul Chapman stepped back clear of the copse and telephoned Abingdon control; but he couldn’t get a reply. He rang 999, explained the situation, asked that they contact Abingdon and ask that they be called. This took a few minutes. Abingdon police station rang him and he reported their find.

They then walked back to Louise’s car – getting there at about 09:00.

The paramedics told me that Louise Holmes was very upset at finding a body while Paul Chapman was deliriously elated.

Out of the Blue – Three TVP Officers

To their surprise, a little later, at about 08:55, they met three Criminal Investigation Department (CID) police officers walking towards them.

Both the searchers state, without doubt, that there were three officers.

One was DC Coe (Graham Coe), another DC Shields (Colin Shields) and a “third man”; this third man’s identity has never been convincingly explained; despite Michael Page’s explanation at the HI.

A local resident of Tucks Lane, Longworth, observed this meeting. He had taken his dog for a walk at about 08:30. Sometime later, he saw the meeting of the two searchers and their dog with the three policemen; he also saw one car (that of Louise Holmes). He assumed that the three policemen must have arrived on foot.

His wife joined him at this time.

Much later on they saw a “hoard” of TVP officers arrive on site. Some were then tasked to perform a finger–tip search of the pathways and road.

Subsequently both he and his wife gave detailed statements to TVP. Neither of these is recorded in the Account of Evidence submitted to the Inquiry by Thames Valley Police –

https://tinyurl.com/yaeb3pxw

Yet these were local residents who had seen significant events unfold.

Just how many similar undeclared statements there are isn’t known.

DC Coe and colleagues

DC Coe was instructed to –

“Go and make house to house inquiries in the area where Dr Kelly lived.”

His first, and only, house to house visit was to a house opposite the Kelly’s home. Here he met Mrs Ruth Absalom a solitary widow. She said she had met David Kelly on a walk the day before. DC Coe duly recorded this.

He should have then moved on to other neighbours to collect as much information as he could.

However, he didn’t do any further inquiries, but instead went to “the area where Mrs Absalom met David Kelly”.

This seems a dereliction of duties – going off-task to pursue his own objective.

He led the TVP trio to the site of Mrs Absalom’s meeting. Then they then walked through Longworth village and down Tuck’s Lane to the open fields and, in the near distance, Harrowdown Hill. Yet at the HI, Mrs Absalom gave the impression that David Kelly had walked away from Harrowdown Hill. This walk would have taken about half an hour – assuming they were on foot.

As soon as they arrived at the end of Tuck’s Lane they saw Louise Holmes’ car, the two searchers and their dog in the field. They introduced themselves to the searchers.

The searchers explained their find of a body. Paul Chapman led DC Coe to the copse on Harrowdown Hill and showed him David Kelly’s body. My estimate is that DC Coe saw the body at about 09:05. Paul Chapman took the lead at this time because Louise Holmes was very upset at her find.

At this time DC Coe was de facto in charge of the crime scene until the TVP search party, being assembled at Abingdon, arrived.

A Silent Hour

DC Graham Coe was in charge of David Kelly’s body and the crime scene for about an hour from 09:00. Yet, we know nothing about any events in this hour. The TVP trio had arrived on foot and had no significant equipment with them.

Why they arrived at Harrowdown Hill hasn’t been explained; nor has the presence of the “third officer”.

We do know that David Kelly’s body was slumped against a tree trunk at 08:45 – as clearly described by the searchers.

When the paramedics arrived at 09:50 his body was flat on its back and 18″ clear of the tree trunk.

DC Coe can offer no explanation for this save for saying that the body was always flat on its back.

In this Silent Hour two crucial events occurred – of which nothing has been previously said.

It will take two chapters to explain these profoundly important events.

Please let me know of any facts that you know concerning David Kelly’s death. Send them to me via the Signal App

This App is totally secure – the only one – and is simple to install.

Download it to your mobile phone (Android or iOS). You need to enter your telephone number and a PIN of your choice – and the system is then go. There are the options to add “a name” or photo etc.

My previous gmail address was secure – but it was not secure against government agencies – eg GCHQ / MI5. Google is happy to comply with government “Authorities” and give them access to email traffic.

If you have sent me information previously please consider sending it to me again.

My Contacts:

Signal App - my number - UK 07 788 656 411

- International 447 788 656 411

Signal App - for info - https://mashable.com/article/what-is-signal-app

Or post: Dr John EVANS, 55 Eaton Road, Appleton, Oxon, OX13 5JH

What to do with David Kelly’s body

A desperate state

The Managers & Civil Servants (M&CS) were now in a desperate state.

They had managed to get in touch with a senior Manager on the night shift at the Home Office. This was late in the evening of the 17th July.

This Manager could handle most things. He could delegate it downwards or delegate it upwards – even to the Prime Minister’s Office - if that’s what he felt was needed.

Soon Lord Charles Falconer must have been woken up.

For the past six weeks, he was both Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. This put him in a unique and immensely powerful position. This, together with his close friendship with Prime Minister Tony Blair, made him the most powerful government executive in the land.

Tony Blair, a great personal friend of Falconer, was out of the country.

Actually in the air - flying from Washington to Tokyo.

Tony Blair was woken and told the news of David Kelly’s death at 09:30 – British Summer Time – by Falconer although the body had not yet been formally identified.

Later, a little after midday, Falconer and Blair had a further two telephone calls. By then, with extraordinary speed, Falconer had appointed Lord Hutton to lead an Inquiry.

That night, a Command & Control (C&C) centre had been formed to manage the logistics of an enormously important situation.  I call it a C&C – but it may have had some other name.

The potential political outcomes of this event were massive – especially for the Blair Government and its role in the Iraq War of 2003.

No effort would be spared to contain any political liability that might threaten the Blair Government. Huge controversies swirled around these events - especially in the UK.

If there was one member of the Government who could “fix” things that night, it was Lord Charles Falconer.

C&C called up all sorts of experts – some very old, some young, some on their phones, some at home, some called into the Home Office to sort out this appalling mess.

This was a major “flap”.

The Options in Reading

• DR David KELLY was dead – fact.
• He had died in the course of an urgent Government meeting.

The M&CS at Reading and C&C had options – none very palatable.

1. Call TVP to place of death, explain, and confess.
2. Take body back to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and explain.
   
   None of the M&CS wanted to do this.
   
   They felt profoundly guilty.
   
   David Kelly had walked into a room with them.
   
   Now he was dead.
   
   They hadn’t treated him very well and now he was dead.
   
   Intellectually, whatever the legal position, they felt that they had killed him.
   
   They felt that they had murder on their hands.
   
   They didn’t want to risk facing a murder or manslaughter charge.
   
   They were massively shocked and traumatised by the events.
3. Dump his body somewhere – such as the River Thames or even at sea.
4. Dump the body in a way to suggest suicide.
   
   For Example. Hang the body from a tree. Put the body into the Thames near his home. Put his body somewhere and make it look like suicide.
5. Destroy the body, for example –
   
   Bury it deeply somewhere remote – maybe a building site.
   
   Destroy the body – with chemicals or by fire, maybe a car crash.

Parallel Plans

Time was precious and many ideas and plans were being run in parallel.

Several plans were activated simultaneously – it would be sunrise in about four hours.

One only of these plans would be chosen and put into action.

This is what I think probably happened.

A Plan - Destroy David Kelly’s body

This latter option was considered seriously. One of the older experts said they must get his dental records out of the way.

This would make identification of any remains difficult, although some DNA evidence might survive some methods of disposal – but not all.

Without any delay, a crack team of experts was pulled together and set running.

This was the Dental Team – the first of five teams sent out that night. Unlike the other teams they would continue work until early Sunday morning.

They were sent on their way with instructions to follow.

There is no doubt that the dental records were stolen.

Final Chosen Plan – the Suicide Scenario

After a lot of data gathering and analysis it looked as though the best option was to dump his body near to his home and make it look like suicide.

They made a massive online search of the locality. Every conceivable map, photograph and aerial photograph was looked at to find some sites that looked promising.

Hanging the body from a tree was an obvious thought. But the forensic guys said that wouldn’t be very convincing at a post mortem.

Simultaneously, C&C’s search of the NHS record system showed that, although David Kelly wasn’t taking any drugs, his wife was. She was taking, amongst others, coproxamol tablets – pain relieving tablets.

Coproxamol tablets were often involved in suicides.

Four More Teams

The Dental Team had been despatched.

C&C put together four more teams -

• The Reconnaissance Team – this team would go to the selected dump sites as fast as possible. Once on the ground they would chose the best option for placing David Kelly’s body.
  
  After a ground search of the suggested sites they chose the small copse atop a small hill – Harrowdown Hill. They then waited for the Body team to arrive. They were careful to keep their car parked out of sight – as far as was possible.
  
• The Drug Team + Dog – this team arrived at Westfield, the Kelly’s home, at 04:40. Ostensibly, to search the house in case David Kelly was there.
  

  

  A blister pack of 10
  co-proxamol tablets

  
  Mrs Kelly, wearing just her dressing-gown was put out into her garden while this was done. It gave the team a chance to search the house, in total privacy, and collect three packets, 30 tablets, from Mrs Kelly’s two stores of co-proxamol tablets; one at her bed-side and one in her kitchen.
  
  This team would then link up with the Body Team and hand over the tablets.
  
  
  
• The Body Team – went to the Reading meeting place and collected David Kelly’s body – in the back of a car. Once in Longworth, the Reconnaissance Team would guide them to their destination. The Reconnaissance Team had decided to put David Kelly’s body in a small copse just off a footpath.
  
  The footpath ran from Tucks Lane, Longworth to the River Thames. The copse was atop small hillock – Harrowdown Hill.
  
  This Body Team had the task of getting David Kelly’s body to Harrowdown Hill – and placing it slumped against a tree trunk.
  
  Then, as described in Chapter 4 – “The Cut Wrist” – Officer-X made the incisions described. He also placed his watch, water bottle and cleaned knife on the left side of David Kelly’s body.
  
  The packs of co-proximal tablets were emptied with the exception of one tablet. The empty packs were put in one of David Kelly’s jacket pockets.
• The Volunteer Searchers + Dog – the first four teams were TVP officers plus special staff as needed.
  
  The Volunteer Searchers were from the Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue service. Although civilian volunteers they were effectively being used by and managed by TVP on this occasion. Although they didn’t know it, they were an integral part of the cover-up of David Kelly’s death. Their activities are described in another Chapter and, in part, below.

Confusion

At the same time TVP was also doing its routine tasks of assembling search teams etc.

Some TVP officers, unaware of the true facts, were running a by-the-book investigation of a missing person. This was Operation Mason headed by Chief Inspector Alan Young. Sergeant Morris’s instructions for a night-time helicopter search were by-the-book. This team couldn’t find a body – where later there was one.

There was a total silence of this first search effort at the Hutton Inquiry.

No one from this team - helicopter pilot, observer, camera operator - appeared at the Inquiry. Neither Sergeant Morris nor Inspector Alan Young were at the Hutton Inquiry. I think that this was because their accounts were “inconvenient” – or they declined to appear at the Inquiry.

Significant logistical problems were arising.

Other TVP officers were running a cover-up operation – led by C&C – often at odds with the naïve staff.

Sometimes, one of TVP’s hands didn’t always know what the other hand was doing or planning.

Extra notes

The Dental Team

See Chapter 3 “A Visit to the Dentist”.

There can be no doubt that these events happened – a form of the events was given at the Hutton Inquiry; more details were given in 2011.

The reason for needing to get David Kelly’s Dental Records was that these provided one of the best methods of identifying a body – apart from fingerprints or DNA analysis.

The “Dental Team” would have arrived on the early morning of the 18th July. Below is my guess at the events that happened - based on the facts that I know.

C&C had pulled together a team of two great experts in “building penetration and recovery” – generally known as burglars. They had many other skills – not required this night.

They were on their way West from London even before they knew where they were going. They were aware that some massive “flap” was on and just did as they were told.

Then they received their exact destination – the Ock Street Clinic, 45 Ock Street, Abingdon, OX14 5AG.

They arrived at about 03:30 am and parked their car across the road a short way from the Clinic. The passenger got out and strolled down the pavement, across the road from the Clinic – looking for evidence of burglar alarms etc. There didn’t seem to be any security systems.

He then crossed the road and walked back past it – looking at the front door to see what sort of locks it had. There was one - of a type that was easy to open.

Then he was in luck because he could walk into a lane – and into Fitchett Yard. This took him to the back of the Clinic.

Here was just a simple garden fence, about 5 feet tall, around the back of the Clinic. He looked around for signs of life and CCTV cameras. It looked quite safe – he legged it over the fence and hit the ground.

He got up and explored the rough ground at the back and sides of the Clinic. On
the East Side he was completely hidden from view. Here was a door and window.

The Ock Street Clinic is based in the
ground floor of the buildings seen here.

He opened his tool kit and tried to open the window – but, although it was quite old, he couldn’t open it without risk of breaking the glass. He looked at the door. This had a simple mortice lock that after a couple of minutes he had opened. Very gently, he pushed the door open with his gloved hands. Wow – no alarms went off.

Then he found his way to the front door and unlocked it from the inside. He then spoke to his colleagues – outside in their car – via a radio link.

By then there was now some debate in C&C if it was necessary to steal David Kelly’s Dental Records. Events were moving very quickly and it was a bit difficult to keep track of things.

The Dental Team said that they were already in the surgery and were ready to recover the dental records. After a short while the Dental Team was told to complete their task. C&C thought that his would be one record amongst 10,000 or so records and would be unlikely to be noticed.

The Clinic was a bit of a rabbit warren with Dr Kanas’s surgery at the farthest end of the building. Here was her filing cabinet and David Kelly’s record.

The Dental Team locked the Clinic and left Abingdon.

The Body Team

David Kelly’s body had to be taken from the Reading meeting place to Harrowdown Hill – quickly – a journey of 40 miles.

A careful review of the post mortem records a number of minor traumas to the body; I counted ten in total. A striking feature was that all ten of these were either in the midline or left-hand side of the body; there were no such lesions on the right-hand side.

These are consistent with a body being placed on its left-hand side – and acquiring some minor traumas in the process.

I suspect that David Kelly’s body may have been put into the boot of a car – as shown in the photograph below.

A body carried in such a manner for 40 miles would have certainly been bumped around en-route. A dead body will not bruise; that needs an active blood supply. Nevertheless, a freshly dead body will bear marks of minor traumas – as were described on David Kelly’s body.

Such a means of moving his body was quick and convenient – and I imagine that this is how it was done.

Sighting of a Police Officer near Harrowdown Hill

The only searchers put on the ground were Paul Chapman and Louise Holmes with her dog Brock. They had been asked by TVP to search one short footpath from the edge of Longworth (A) to the Thames (B).

The path taken by the
searchers. They met the boat
people at “B” at the Thames.

David Kelly’s body was in the north-eastern part of the copse.

They started their search from “A” at 08:00.

Having searched the southern part of the copse on Harrowdown Hill they then walked to the river. The path ends at the Thames where they found a moored boat.

At the Hutton Inquiry, James Dingemans QC asked Paul Chapman about this part of their search:

Q. Did you see anyone on that search?
A. Not until we reached the river and we met the people on the boat.

Q. How many people were on the boat?
A. Either three or four, I cannot remember.

Q. Did you speak to them?
A. Yes, we did.

Q. What did you say to them?
A. They enquired what we were doing. We explained a search team assisting the police, looking for a missing person, and gave them a rough description of his age and said if they saw anything could they contact the police.

Q. Had they seen anything?
A. They had heard the helicopter and seen some police officers at some point previously.

Q. Right. What, police officers on an earlier part of the search?
A. Yes.

As is typical of the behaviour of the Hutton lawyers, this key bit of evidence was studiously ignored. The QC’s questioning was deftly turned elsewhere.

Police Officers at Harrowdown Hill – thus Paul Chapman clearly reported the observations of the people on the Thames boat that they had seen Police Officers. From the position of the boat and the local topography, it must have been that they saw Police Officers were in the fields to the East of the copse.

This is consistent with my proposal that a Reconnaissance Team or Body Team would have been in the area at some time early that morning.

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