Dr Kelly death - experts are found wanting

Following on from my last post I've found this recording of part of the Channel 4 News originally broadcast just under eight months after Dr Kelly's death. In it you can hear some of the concerned medical experts who were unconvinced by Hutton's conclusions but what really gobsmacked me was the opinions expressed by two forensic experts from Sheffield (this bit starts at about 3.55). It will be recalled that three used blister packs of co-proxomal each originally containing 10 tablets had been found at the scene - in Kelly's coat pocket I think I'm right in saying. There was one left. So, quick bit of mental arithmetic here, 30 minus one = 29. Our first forensic expert states that 29 tablets were more than enough to kill Kelly, or you or me come to that. What is this "expert" on for crying out loud. Because 29 tablets are missing from the blisters he is assuming that all 29 were taken by Kelly. The post mortem suggested that there was a non lethal amount inside Dr Kelly, certainly not all 29 of the tablets. If someone had murdered Kelly one can imagine that removing a number of the co-proxomal tablets (and perhaps conveniently leaving one to assist the police!) would have helped to give the illusion that the death was one of suicide.

I don't pretend to be that intelligent but even I can see just how ridiculous is the argument put forward by the two forensic professors. Sure there is a lot more information out there now about the death and I have the benefit of Norman Baker's excellent book and of Rowena Thursby's brilliant blog to help form some sort of judgment about the matter. Having said that these supposedly clever men seem to have added two and two together to make five with the greatest of ease.

Mentioning Norman Baker reminds me of a comment in his book wherein he notes that the Home Office pathologist who went out to Harrowdown Hill didn't take the rectal temperature of the deceased until he had completed the rest of his examination. Apparently this temperature is one of the most important things to ascertain in determining the time of death and should be done as soon as possible to get the most accurate estimate. So why wasn't this done as a priority? Truly the experts seem hopeless.

Dr David Kelly might get a proper inquest

Some really good news to note: six doctors (including trauma surgeon David Halpin who lives in Devon) have launched a legal action to get the inquest into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly reopened. The inquest had in fact started soon after this tragic death but the due process was hijacked when Lord Hutton was given the responsibility of deciding how Kelly's demise came about. Hutton had no power to subpoena witnesses, didn't take evidence under oath, didn't have a jury to reach a verdict and is not a coroner. Blair's government decided that the procedure used when many deaths occur in an incident such as a bad train accident could be invoked here. That way of doing things is fair enough when you have multiple fatalities and it becomes somewhat pointless to have individual inquests for each person that died and an enquiry determines the root cause of the accident or whatever. The case of David Kelly is so obviously different - I won't mince my words here when I say that the decision to bypass the usual process of holding an inquest is one of the most disgraceful and unacceptable episodes in modern legal history.

I personally am convinced that Kelly was murdered. Now it may be that an inquest jury would not come up with a verdict of "murder by a person or persons unknown". They could well deliver an open verdict, even possibly suicide although I would doubt that if all the medical evidence is properly presented. What is certain is that Hutton didn't prove suicide "beyond reasonable doubt". We need a clear statement from the Tories now about whether they consider the inquest should be reopened. When Norman Baker's excellent book looking into the circumstances surrounding Kelly's death came out it was noticeable how the right wing bloggers ignored it. We must remember that the Tories in parliament were cheerleaders for Blair's participation in the Iraq war.

If you think the death was by Kelly's own hand I suggest that you read Rowena Thursby's blog here or pick up a copy of Mr Baker's book. Assuming that the subject is approached with an open mind I would be amazed if you didn't have any doubts about Hutton's conclusion re suicide.

Tale of two MPs (1) Norman Baker

I find that our MPs vary hugely in their quality irrespective of their party label, in fact I've made the point before that I don't have a loyalty to any one party, with MPs I would much rather they were honest, adequately represented their constituents and approached problems with common sense even if that meant at times going against the party line. Regarding the latter point I flagged up in a previous post how Frank Field was the one Labour MP who voted against the government on the reduction in VAT rate. It's almost impossible to believe that every other Labour member thought that this ridiculous policy was fine but there you go ...

Now to Norman Baker, LibDem MP for Lewes in Sussex. For some reason he has become a figure of fun to some bloggers but he was the man who temporarily relinquished his post on the LibDem front bench to investigate the strange death of Dr David Kelly. He uncovered a mass of detail and put his findings into a book (I should also mention again the blog written by Rowena Thursby which you can read here covering a lot of the Kelly business). For the record I consider that the way the aftermath of Kelly's death was handled has been one of the most disgraceful episodes in recent British history and I'm also appalled at the attitude taken by political bloggers and many newspaper columnists to Baker's findings.

Even his detractors will admit that Baker is assiduous in ferreting out information from government sources. I see on the BBC News website that there is a story here in which Norman Baker points out how hard it is to get an answer from Gordon Brown when he submits a written question. According to Baker the PM had only answered 4 out of 23 written questions he had posed in the past year satisfactorily. So had others replied on the PMs behalf - Baker checked this out with Brown and was assured by Brown that he personally approved each one of them.

far too gentle with Brown on the 'Today' programme this morning. My guess is that if BBC radio's best attack dog John Bearing in mind my recent observations on Brown not answering questions at PMQs this story re Norman Baker should be no surprise. But how can Brown continue with these tactics? It is making a complete mockery of the democratic process. Incidentally I hear that Evan Davis wasHumphrys had been the interviewer Brown wouldn't have appeared.

I hope Mr Baker continues to write to the Prime Minister and not be too disconsolate. For once at least the BBC have put up a story on their website which isn't positive about our dear Prime Minister.

Dr David Kelly book to be published

Next month sees the publication of 'The Strange Death of David Kelly' by the LibDem MP Norman Baker. A 192 page paperback, it will be available from Amazon at £9.99 plus postage and no doubt at many a High Street bookshop. I believe the revelations will be sensational and will finally debunk the official version of his alleged suicide. Norman Baker is one of those MPs I particularly admire partly because his search for the truth is absolutely relentless. I've no doubt that the powers that be want the whole miserable David Kelly business to be forgotten. I certainly don't!

For lots of background information on the death of Dr David Kelly it's worth going to Rowena Thursby's blog here. Her blog dramatically demonstrates how essential blogs are to flag up matters which are in danger of being quietly forgotten.