Kelly's state of mind in spotlight

The Hutton inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly is set to hear an expert's view on the scientist's state of mind at the time of his apparent suicide.

A psychiatrist is giving evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday, as are GP Dr Malcolm Warner and police officers who searched for Dr Kelly when he disappeared immediately before his death.

Dr Kelly died after being named as the possible source for the BBC story about claims the government "sexed up" the intelligence case against Iraq in last September's dossier.

Professor Keith Hawton, director of the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University's department of psychiatry, is expected to give Lord Hutton expert advice on the minds of those who take their own lives.

The latest witnesses come after Dr Kelly's widow told of his decline into despair as pressure mounted on him when he became the suspected source for BBC correspondent Andrew Gilligan's report.

Other witnesses on Tuesday include Kelly family neighbour Ruth Absalom, two ambulance staff and Barney Leith, a member of the Baha'i faith to which Dr Kelly subscribed.

On Monday, Janice Kelly said her husband had felt "totally let down and betrayed" by the Ministry of Defence when he realised he would be named as the BBC's possible source.

And giving an insight into the human cost of the weapons controversy, she told how he went "ballistic" when he heard his appearance before MPs would be televised.

Contradicting earlier witnesses, Mrs Kelly said the scientist had not known about the government press statement on 8 July saying that an unnamed official admitted speaking to Mr Gilligan.

Speaking via an audio link from a neighbouring room at the Royal Courts of Justice, she said Dr Kelly had told her the press would have an "easy job" identifying him.

In other developments on Monday:

Dr Kelly's daughter Rachel said her father told her he could not understand how Andrew Gilligan could make such forcible claims about the conversation they had had
She said there was distress and "perhaps a bit of humiliation" in her father's look when she saw him the weekend before his death
His sister Sarah Pape said he was "utterly convinced" the Iraq crisis would not be solved without a regime change and that was unlikely to happen peacefully.

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