Who Was David Kelly?

David Kelly was a scientist employed by the British government as an expert on biological weapons. He had served as a United Nations arms inspector in Iraq in the 1990s. Kelly became enmeshed in a public quarrel between the BBC and the British government when he acted as a source for journalist Andrew Gilligan who, in the course of a radio interview, made the controversial claim that the Blair government had 'sexed up' a report on Iraqi WMD.

As the quarrel between the BBC and the Blair government flared up, Kelly's identity was leaked to the public and he was grilled by a committee of MPs.

Shortly afterwards, Kelly's wife reported him missing and his body was soon found in a wooded area near his home. An artery in his wrist had been cut and he had ingested drugs. The coroner returned a verdict of suicide. In 2006, Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker expressed scepticism over this verdict, and announced that he intended to carry out his own inquiry.

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