David Kelly - UK Weapons Inspector

David Kelly, Britain's most senior Weapons Inspector in Iraq, took 29 pain killers, walked into the woods and died. They said he killed himself by cutting his wrist with a pruning knife.

He had a discussion with BBC Radio 4 Today programme journalist, Andrew Gilligan about the British governments "dodgy dossier" on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As a result, all hell broke lose - he created a major political scandal. He had to appear before an inquiry which was set up to investigate what he had said about the sensitive issue and a few days later he was dead. A panel of nine medical experts said that Kelly's cause of death was haemorrhage from a severed artery. The Hutton enquiry ruled that he went into the woods, cut his wrist and bled to death. Lord Hutton stipulated that evidence surrounding his death be kept secret for 70 years which makes it very suspicious. To make matters even worse, he told friends that if Iraq were invaded "I'll probably be found dead in the woods".

Last week, a group of nine experts, including former coroners and a professor of intensive-care medicine, wrote a letter to The Times questioning Lord Hutton's verdict. "Insufficient blood would have been lost to threaten life" they wrote. "Absent a quantitative assessment of the blood lost and of the blood remaining in the great vessels, the conclusion that death occurred as a consequence of haemorrhage is unsafe". They also asked that the relevant medical documents be made available for experts to examine.

Ten reasons to query the suicide verdict:

1. An elbow injury had left David Kelly's right arm too weak to cut his wrist.

2. He had difficulty swallowing pills so he couldn't have swallowed 29 tablets.

3. Medical records classified for 70 years

4. No fingerprints on the pruning knife

5. He said he would probably be found dead in the woods

6. Not enough blood loss to warrant death

7. Detective who found the body said there wasn't much blood

8. Two paramedics were sceptical that the wrist wound could have caused his death

9. There was no evidence he was depressed, he was looking forward to his daughter's wedding

10. Death certificate was not signed by a doctor or coroner.

It makes one wonder if the secret service had him bumped off to stop him from telling the world that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that an invasion was unwarranted and immoral.