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.
- Call TVP to place of death, explain, and confess.
- 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. - Dump his body somewhere – such as the River Thames or even at sea.
- 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. - 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 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.
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. |
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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