British Arms Expert Kelly's Widow Tells of Torture before Death

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 02, 2003

British Arms Expert Kelly's Widow Tells of Torture before Death

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British arms expert David Kelly felt "betrayed" by the Ministry of Defense when he realized he would be named as the source of the BBC report claiming Downing Street had embellished its case for war against Iraq, Kelly's widow said on Monday.

"He said several times over coffee, over lunch, over afternoon tea that he felt totally let down and betrayed," Janice Kelly, 58,told the judicial inquiry led by Lord Hutton. She was giving evidence via an audio-video link from a neighboring room at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London.

Her remarks contradicted earlier witnesses who told the inquiry that Dr. Kelly had not known about the government press statement on July 8 saying an unnamed official had come forward and admittedspeaking to BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan who aired that report on May 29.

Mrs. Kelly said her husband had told her the press would swiftly "put two and two together" after the statement was released and identify him. She said he had gone "ballistic" after being called to a House of Commons hearing.

"He looked so desperate... I just thought he had a broken heart," said Janice, describing the experience as "just a nightmare."

"In all the Russian visits and all the difficulties he had in Iraq, where he had lots of discomfort, lots of horrors, guns pointing at him, munitions left lying around, I had never known him to be as unhappy as he was then," she continued.

Kelly was also "deeply upset" to hear that Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was disappointed to be accompanied to a Commonscommittee hearing with somebody as "junior" as Kelly, said the widow.

Speaking publicly about her husband's death for the first time,Janice said her husband had been "tired, subdued, but not depressed" on July 17, the day he went missing. Kelly was found dead with a slit wrist next morning near his home in Oxfordshire, in central-southern England.

"I just thought he had a broken heart. He had shrunk into himself but I had no idea of what he might do later," she said.

Kelly was a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. After his death, the BBC confirmed that he was the main source of the BBC's May report accusing the government of "sexing up" evidence about Iraq's weapons in last September's dossier, including the key claim that Saddam Hussein could launch biochemical attacks within 45 minutes.

His apparent suicide, amid a bitter row between the BBC and thegovernment. The government has denied the embellishment allegations which sparked Prime Minister Tony Blair's worst crisisduring his six-year rule.

On Thursday, when testifying before Lord Hutton, Blair said he took full responsibility for making Kelly's name public, claiming that he would have been forced to resign if the BBC report had been true.

Many analysts predicted Blair will survive the Hutton inquiry although his political credibility has been deeply damaged.

Blair lost a top aide on Friday when Downing Street's press chief, Alastair Campbell, resigned after working for Blair for nine years.

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