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Posted: 18-07-2003 10:49 Post subject:

Following protracted discussions, I've now copied all Kelly related material from the Iraq thread, and constructed this one from it. The original posts remain intact on the Iraq thread - we can now use this one to discuss Kelly. Stu.

Is it true that UK 'source' Mr Kelly has now gone missing?

Posted: 18-07-2003 10:49 Post subject:

Posted: 18-07-2003 11:16 Post subject:

Update:

Posted: 18-07-2003 11:27 Post subject: Dr. Kelly

What puzzles me is that although Dr. Kelly originally appeared to think that he might have been 'the mole', the select committee last week decided that he wasn't. On what evidence?

Out of common decency, Mr. Gilligan should reveal/be made to reveal his true source and put an end to this sorry mess for good.

H.

Posted: 18-07-2003 11:29 Post subject:

Body found at 0920 hrs about 5 miles from Dr. Kelly's home, according to BBC News24 at the moment. The odds don't look good for Dr. Kelly.

And something definitely smells. Sad

Posted: 18-07-2003 13:05 Post subject:

Why are they taking so long to identify the body? All they need is to get a member of his family to ID him.. unless something has happened to his face... Surprised

No hold on he works with the intelligence community, so they'll have his fingerprints on file. Unless something has happened to his hands... Surprised

Oh and they've already started the Suicide Spin... Hmph

Look at the timing: The PM heads out of the country; Dr. Kelly goes for an "uncharacteristic" walk and winds up dead?

The writer in me says he was going to meet someone and the meeting proved fatal... confused

Posted: 18-07-2003 13:17 Post subject: Weapons expert mystery

I'm not sure if this'd be better off in the conspiracy section, but it's quite unnerving regardless of where it belongs. It has echoes of the 80s when all those weapons and technology experts died in mysterious circumstances. No doubt (if the body IS his) they'll say it was a heart attack or something... but one always has to wonder....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3076801.stm

Body found in Iraq expert search

Police searching for the weapons expert named by the government as the possible source for a BBC story on Iraq say they have discovered a man's body.

The body was found at 0920 BST by a member of the police team searching for Dr David Kelly in a wooded area at Harrowdown Hill, near Faringdon, Oxfordshire, but has not yet been identified.

Government adviser Dr Kelly, 59, went missing from his home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at about 1500 BST on Thursday.

The body was found lying on the ground, a police spokeswoman said. She said items had been removed from Dr Kelly's house as they would in any missing person's inquiry.

The body was found around five miles from Dr Kelly's home.

Earlier this week, Dr Kelly denied being the BBC's main source for a story claiming Downing Street had "sexed up" a dossier about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. He appeared before the Commons foreign affairs committee on Tuesday.

MPs on the committee reacted with shock and disbelief at news of Dr Kelly's disappearance.

His family had contacted the police when he failed to return home by 2345 BST on Thursday.

Tony Blair, who is heading to Japan after his speech to Congress in Washington, has been informed about the discovery of the body.

SEARCH FOR DAVID KELLY

1500 BST: Told wife going for a walk near their home
2345 BST: Police informed he is missing
Last seen: Clothed in off-white cotton shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes

Timeline: Row over BBC report

Huge media attention has been on Dr Kelly since the Ministry of Defence said he had admitted meeting Andrew Gilligan, the BBC correspondent behind the controversial Iraq story.

Mr Gilligan said a source had told him that the dossier on Iraq had been "sexed up" by Downing Street.

The BBC correspondent has refused to name his source, but the MoD said Dr Kelly had come forward to say it may have been him.

Acting superintendent Dave Purnell, of Thames Valley Police, speaking to reporters in Wantage, Oxfordshire, said: "We haven't ruled anything out yet. Clearly there are people at the scene now and there is no further information as to the body that has been found apart from to say it is a male.

"This is clearly a sensitive inquiry at the moment. The family of Dr David Kelly have been aware of what the police have been doing in relation to the search for him."

Superintendent Purnell said the search for Dr Kelly continued with the police helicopter and around 70 officers.

He said the official's family were aware that a body had been found. A police family liaison officer is with them.

Harrowdown Hill, where the body is found, is an area popular with walkers but "quite off the beaten track", he added.

Police say Dr Kelly is an avid walker and has good local knowledge of the many footpaths surrounding his home.

His disappearance and failure to make contact with anyone was described by his family as 'out of character'.

"He is not used to the media glare, he is not used to the intense spotlight he has been put under" Richard Ottaway, Tory MP

Initial searches of the house, outbuildings and grounds of the property were completed in the early hours of Friday.

Checks of local hospitals have also shown no trace of Dr Kelly.

Dr Kelly is 5ft 8ins, of slim build and with grey receding hair and a white well-trimmed beard. He has green/grey eyes and was last seen wearing an off-white cotton shirt possibly striped, blue jeans, with a brown leather belt and brown shoes.

Anyone who feels they may have information that can help in tracing Dr Kelly should call 08458 505 505.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "We are aware that Dr David Kelly has gone missing and we are obviously concerned."

Downing Street says it is "very concerned about news that David Kelly has gone missing". A spokesman said thoughts were with Dr Kelly's family.

Number 10 says "normal personnel procedures" were followed after Dr Kelly volunteered that he might have been the source of Mr Gilligan's report.

It was made clear to Dr Kelly that his name was likely to become public knowledge because he was one of only a small number of people it could have been about, the spokesman said.

After questioning Dr Kelly earlier this week, the Commons foreign affairs select committee said it was "most unlikely" he was the main source for the BBC story.

And they said Dr Kelly, who has worked as a weapons inspector in Iraq, had been "poorly treated" by the government - a charge strongly rejected by the MoD.

"There must be more to this than we had thought. I do not know what that means, I just think there is" John Maples, Foreign affairs committee

Committee chairman Donald Anderson told the BBC his "heart went out" to Dr Kelly's family as the search for the official went on.

Another member of the committee, Tory John Maples said he was "speechless" after hearing of the discovery of a body.

"If it is (Dr Kelly), it is just awful. What can you say? Nothing," he said."There must be more to this than we had thought. I do not know what that means, I just think there is". "In fact, several people (on the committee) said 'you have been used by the government'."

Tory MP Richard Ottaway, another committee member, said: "He is not used to the media glare, he is not used to the intense spotlight he has been put under."

The news comes after Mr Anderson accused Mr Gilligan of being an "unreliable witness" who had changed his story about the Iraq dossier claims when he met the committee in private on Thursday.

The BBC has rejected that suggestion, saying Mr Gilligan had been consistent throughout

Posted: 18-07-2003 13:20 Post subject: BUMP

We know Snowman and we're disgussing it here in the Iraq - Aftermath thread...

Posted: 18-07-2003 13:27 Post subject: WMD expert assasinated?

What on earth is going on? Dr David Kelly, the expert linked to the "sexing-up" BBC report that has irked the british government so much has been missing since yesterday afternoon and now a body has been found in a field 5 miles from his house.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3076801.stm

Note that the BBC report is extreemely carefully worded but there is plenty to read betwen the lines...

Suicide? Heart attack? Political assasination?

Posted: 18-07-2003 13:31 Post subject: Iraq/BBC/Dossier "source" found dead?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3076801.stm

Posted: 18-07-2003 13:34 Post subject:

Ah, I just posted this to Fortean News too. I'll leave it since my one only has the news story.

It's still an option that the pressure was too much and he committed suicide. That is, if the body is actually his.

Posted: 18-07-2003 13:35 Post subject:

Weird, I just posted this before, but it didn't appear.

I was merely pointing out (along with the article) that it has shades of the 80s when all those weapons experts died in mysterious circumstances. No doubt they'll say it was natural causes or suicide or something.. but one does have to wonder..

Posted: 18-07-2003 13:54 Post subject:

The body was found two miles from my house.

Eeeep!

Bit suspect though isn't it?
Especially if it does turn out to be him...wonder what Tony will have to say about that?

Posted: 18-07-2003 14:33 Post subject: BREAKING NEWS

Body identified as Dr. Kelly!

BBC

Posted: 18-07-2003 14:53 Post subject:

Found on b3ta earlier Smile