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.
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
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
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
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
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.
- 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.
- 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?”
- Wrist artefacts - he has given a detailed description of the wrist artefacts – and these are dealt with in Chapter 4 “The Cut Wrist”.
- 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. - 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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