02/09/2003 - 10:44:58 AM
Witnesses give evidence of Kelly's state of mind
One of the last people to see Dr David Kelly alive, his elderly neighbour, began giving evidence at the Hutton Inquiry today.
Ruth
Absalom was to give another insight, via video link, into the final moments of the British government scientist, whom she met as he took a
walk on July 17 from which he would not return.
She was one of a series of witnesses who were expected to give a picture of Dr
Kelly’s state of mind before he apparently took his own life.
The doctor’s GP, an expert on suicide and a leader of the Baha’I
faith, to which Dr Kelly was a recent convert, were due to follow Miss Absalom to give evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in
London.
British police and dog handlers involved in the search for Dr Kelly’s body were also to assist Lord Hutton.
After
the high political drama of recent weeks, today’s hearing was expected to reflect a more traditional inquest as Lord Hutton tried to
piece together the weapons expert’s final movements.
Yesterday the inquiry heard poignant evidence from those who knew Dr Kelly
best – his widow Janice, daughter Rachel and sister Sarah Pape.
Mrs Kelly told a packed court 73 that her husband felt “totally
let down and betrayed” by Britain's Ministry of Defence for allowing his name to be made public.
Today the inquiry was due to
learn more about what was going through Dr Kelly’s mind at the end.
Giving evidence were Barney Leith, a personal friend and
secretary of the UK National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is, Professor Keith Hawton, director of the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford
University’s department of psychiatry, and Dr Kelly’s GP, Dr Malcolm Warner.
©Copyright 2003, Irish Examiner (UK)
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