BBC's claim Govt 'sexed up' dossier wrong

1.50am

LONDON - Judge Lord Hutton, probing the death of leading Iraq weapons expert David Kelly, says a BBC broadcast allegation that the British government "sexed up" intelligence in a dossier on Iraq was unfounded.

"I considered the allegation was unfounded as it would be understood by those who heard the broadcast to mean that the dossier had been embellished with intelligence known or believed to be false or unreliable, which had not been the case."

As to whether the government deliberately leaked Kelly's name to the media without appearing to do so, Hutton said: "I was satisfied there was no such underhand strategy. I do not consider there was any plan or strategy for the Prime Minister and the officials at 10 Downing Street to bring this about."

However, he said the Ministry of Defence was "at fault" for not telling Kelly it would confirm his name to journalists who asked and he said that the scientist would have probably felt "badly let down".

Hutton said that the MoD, Kelly's employer, had tried to help Kelly but "because of his intensely private nature Dr Kelly was not an easy man to help or to whom to give advice."

He said the government dossier had been accepted by the Joint Intelligence Committee and that the intelligence behind the 45-minute claim had come from a reliable source.

"The 45-minute claim was based on a report which was received by the Secret Intelligence Service from a source which that service regarded as reliable," Hutton said.

"Therefore whether or not at some time in the future the report on which the 45-minute claim was based was unreliable, the allegation reported by Mr Gilligan that the government probably knew that the 45-minute claim was wrong before the government decided to put in the dossier was an allegation which was unfounded."

BBC AND GILLIGAN CRITICISED

Hutton described BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan's report that the government knew that its claim that Iraq could launch weapons in 45 minutes was wrong as "grave".

"The allegation in the broadcast that the government probably knew that the 45 minutes figure was wrong even before it decided to put it in was a very grave allegation which attacked the integrity of the government and the integrity of the Joint Intelligence Committee and gave rise to a major controversy which dominated the headlines for many days."

The judge criticised the BBC management and governors for its procedures. "The governors should have made more detailed investigation of Gilligan's notes."

Hutton said it was not possible to reach a conclusion about what Kelly said to Gilligan. But he was satisfied Kelly had not told him the government probably knew or suspected the 45 minute claim was wrong when it drew up the dossier.

The judge, detailing the key findings from his 328-page report, said Dr Kelly killed himself and that no third party was involved, and that no one could have predicted his suicide.

"I am satisfied that Dr. Kelly took his own life by cutting his left wrist and that his death was hastened by his taking of coproxamol tablets. I am further satisfied that there was no involvement by a third person in Dr Kelly's death."

The senior judge had been tasked with investigating the death of Kelly, the source behind a contentious BBC report that the government had "sexed up" the case for war in Iraq.

Kelly's death put a human face on a war policy that pitted Prime Minister Tony Blair against most voters and helped undermine public trust in his once-commanding leadership.

- REUTERS

Full report of Hutton's inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly