THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAS released previously unpublished medical files relating to the death of weapons inspector Dr David Kelly.
Kelly’s body was discovered in woods near his home in Oxfordshire, England, in July, 2003.
Kelly had been working as a scientist for the British Ministry of Defence.
His death came after he had been identified as the source of an Andrew Gilligan report for the BBC which claimed the British government had “sexed up” its dossier on Iraq’s weapons capability.
The Guardian reports that the medical files released today support the findings of an inquiry into Kelly’s death headed by Lord Hutton. The Hutton Inquiry found that Kelly had committed suicide.
Hutton also found that key allegations made by Andrew Gilligan were “unfounded”, according to the BBC.
According to the newly-released medical papers, the post-mortem examination conducted by Dr Nicholas Hunt concluded that the main factor involved in Kelly’s death was bleeding from a wound on his left wrist.
He said that the ingestion of proxamol tablets ”couple with apparently clinically silent coronary artery disease” would also have contributed to bringing death more rapidly.
Hunt said: “Therefore I give as the cause of death: 1a. Haemorrhage; 1b Incised wounds to the left wrist; 2. Co-proxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis.”
The medical documents said Kelly’s death was “typical of self-inflicted injury”.
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke said he was publishing the papers “in the interests of maintaining public confidence in the inquiry into how Dr Kelly came by his death”.
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