After his disappearance was already a news item in the UK earlier on, now there's even sadder news to report...

<h3>Body 'matches' Iraq expert</h3>
A body matching the description of Dr David Kelly - the weapons expert at the centre of the Iraq dossier row - has been found at a beauty spot close to his home in Oxfordshire.
The government says an independent judicial inquiry will be held into the circumstances of his death if the body is confirmed to be that of the MoD adviser.
The discovery was made at 0920 BST by a member of the police team searching for Dr Kelly in a wooded area at Harrowdown Hill, near Faringdon.
Dr Kelly, 59, had been caught up in a row between the BBC and the government about the use of intelligence reports in the run-up to the war with Iraq.
On Tuesday he told the Foreign Affairs select committee he had spoken to BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan but denied he was the main source for a story about claims that a dossier on Iraq had been "sexed up".
Dr Kelly left his home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at about 1500 BST on Thursday and his family reported him missing at 2345 BST the same day.
The body was found lying on the ground, around five miles from Dr Kelly's home, a police spokeswoman said.
Acting superintendent Dave Purnell said formal identification would take place on Saturday and the case was being treated as an "unexplained death".
"We will be awaiting the results of the post mortem and also waiting while the forensic examination continues at the scene at Harrowdown Hill," he added.

Attention
The government announcement of an inquiry if the body is Dr Kelly's came from the prime minister's plane as he flew for a visit to Tokyo.
Mr Blair's spokesman said: "The prime minister is obviously very distressed for the family.
"If it is Dr Kelly's body, the Ministry of Defence will hold an independent judicial inquiry into the circumstances leading up to his death."
Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said Mr Blair should consider cutting short his trip to the Far East.
Robert Jackson, the Conservative MP in whose constituency Dr Kelly lived, said the "responsibility of the BBC should not go unmentioned" in the case.
"The pressure was significantly increased by the fact the BBC refused to make it clear he was not the source," he said.
A BBC spokesman said: "We are shocked and saddened to hear what has happened and we extend our deepest sympathies to Dr Kelly's family and friends.

Shock
"Whilst Dr Kelly's family await the formal identification, it would not be appropriate for us to make any further statement."
Earlier this week, Dr Kelly denied being the BBC's main source for the story claiming Downing Street had "sexed up" the dossier about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
MPs on the Commons foreign affairs committee, which questioned Dr Kelly earlier this week, reacted with shock and disbelief at news of his disappearance.
Huge media attention has been on Dr Kelly since the Ministry of Defence said he had come forward to admit meeting Andrew Gilligan, the BBC correspondent behind the controversial Iraq story.
Mr Gilligan said a source had told him that the dossier on Iraq had been "transformed" by Downing Street.
The BBC correspondent has refused to name his source, but the MoD said Dr Kelly had come forward to say it may have been him.

Sensitive
Government ministers have said they believe he was the source for Mr Gilligan's story.
Supt Purnell said a police family liaison officer is with Dr Kelly's family. The official and wife Janice have three daughters, Sian, 32, and twins Rachel and Ellen, 30.
Ann Lewis, a neighbour of Dr Kelly, told BBC News Online she was "devastated" for his family, especially his children.
She said: "He was a quiet man. He was a man who showed great care and concern for others."
Craig Foster, 36, landlord of the Blue Boar public house in nearby Longworth, said Dr Kelly was "a very well liked gentleman".
Police say Dr Kelly is an avid walker and has good local knowledge of the many footpaths surrounding his home.
A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "We are aware that Dr David Kelly has gone missing and we are obviously concerned."

Rules
The ministry said Dr Kelly had at no point been threatened with suspension or dismissal for speaking to Mr Gilligan.
It was made clear to him that he had broken civil service rules by having unauthorised contact with a journalist, but "that was the end of it", said a spokesman.
Downing Street says "normal personnel procedures" were followed after Dr Kelly volunteered that he might have been the source of Mr Gilligan's report.
It was made clear to Dr Kelly that his name was likely to become public knowledge because he was one of only a small number of people it could have been about, a spokesman said.
After questioning Dr Kelly earlier this week, the Commons foreign affairs select committee said it was "most unlikely" he was the main source for the BBC story.
And they said Dr Kelly, who has worked as a weapons inspector in Iraq, had been "poorly treated" by the government - a charge strongly rejected by the MoD.
Committee chairman Donald Anderson told the BBC his "heart went out" to Dr Kelly's family as the search for the official went on.
Another member of the committee, Tory John Maples said he was "speechless" after hearing of the discovery of a body.
"If it is (Dr Kelly), it is just awful. What can you say? Nothing," he said.
"There must be more to this than we had thought. I do not know what that means, I just think there is."
Tory MP Richard Ottaway, another committee member, said: "He is not used to the media glare, he is not used to the intense spotlight he has been put under."
The BBC has rejected Mr Anderson's claim that Mr Gilligan was an "unreliable witness" who had changed his story about the Iraq dossier claims when he met the committee in private on Thursday.
<h6>Source: BBC</h6>

[ 07-18-2003, 01:14 PM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

<h3>MoD expert 'unused to spotlight' - A profile of Dr David Kelly</h3>
Missing weapons expert Dr David Kelly has been thrust into the media spotlight since he was named by the government as the possible source of a BBC report on Iraq.
In the last week the civil servant more used to working behind the scenes has become a key figure in the row between the government and the BBC over claims Downing Street "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq's weapons capability.
The scientist was named publicly by the government as a contact who, it believed, briefed BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan about the Iraqi weapons programme.
Three days ago the 59-year-old told the foreign affairs select committee he did not believe he was the story's source although he had come forward to tell his managers he had met Mr Gilligan.
The Oxford-educated microbiologist has been scientific adviser to the proliferation and arms control secretariat for more than three years.

Iraq weapons inspections
He is an expert in arms control having worked as a weapons inspector in Iraq following the first Gulf War between 1991 and 1998.
Dr Kelly became senior adviser on biological warfare for the UN in Iraq in 1994, holding the post until 1999.
During a lecture he once said: "When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, little did I realise that Saddam Hussein would dictate the next 10 years of my life."
He also led all the visits and inspections of Russian biological warfare facilities from 1991 to 1994 under the 1992 Trilateral Agreement between the US, UK and Russia.
Garth Whitty, a former colleague of Dr Kelly who worked with him as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq, told the BBC the scientist was "internationally regarded" as an expert in biological weapons defence who normally coped well under pressure.
"He is a quiet man who gets on with his job. He does it with the highest professional standards," he said.

Rising through ranks
Dr Kelly is married and with his wife, Janice, has Sian, 32, and twins Rachel and Ellen, 30. Neighbours described them as a "lovely family".
Dr Kelly came from a background in agricultural science.
He was chief science officer at Britain's Natural Environment Research Council Institute of Virology.
He rose through the ranks at the Ministry of Defence's chemical research centre at Porton Down in Wiltshire to become head of microbiology.
He has spent the majority of his career as a consultant to the MoD and other government departments and agencies, advising them on his area of expertise - arms control.
Part of his job is to brief journalists on defence issues.
But the past week has seen him at the centre of press attention.
The expert told the select committee he could not even get into his Oxfordshire home because of the press outside.
BBC political correspondent Vicky Young said Dr Kelly, who is civil servant not a public figure, had been under pressure.
"He was the kind of man who would have been mortified that he might have inadvertently contributed to this story.
"He is not used to being thrust in the public glare."

Softly spoken
But Donald Anderson, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, told BBC News 24 Dr Kelly seemed relaxed when he gave evidence as he rejected suggestions he have someone sit beside him to give him confidence.
As he gave evidence, members asked him three times to speak louder and fans had to be turned off to help him be heard as he admitted he was "softly spoken".
But his message was clear - he told MPs he did not believe he was the main source of Mr Gilligan's story.
And MPs agreed with him with some claiming he had been made a "fall guy".
Conservative MP John Maples, also a member of the select committee, said: "I don't think he is someone used to being thrust into the limelight."
But he said the scientist should have been reassured by the fact members were convinced he was not Mr Gilligan's main source.
Dr Kelly previously gave evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee last September with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
<h6>Source: BBC</h6>

I'm sure it was an accident :rolleyes:

<h3>Weapons witness 'badly treated'</h3>
As the police search for weapons expert Dr David Kelly focuses on a body found in Oxfordshire woodlands, members of the committee that quizzed him reveal the level of pressure to which he was exposed.
Tory MP Richard Ottoway, a member of the Commons foreign affairs committee that quizzed Dr Kelly on Tuesday, believed the witness "had been treated very badly indeed".
Mr Ottaway added that the committee had even written to the Ministry of Defence to express its concern for Dr Kelly.
The news on Friday that police have discovered the body of a man - as yet unidentified - near to Mr Kelly's home have only added to fears that the story of the Iraq weapons row may have taken a tragic twist.
The government advisor named as the possible source for a BBC report on Iraq went missing from his home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at about 1500 BST on Thursday.
Police say his disappearance and failure to make contact with anyone is described by his family as "out of character".
Mr Ottaway said: "People like Dr Kelly are not used to the sort of exposure that he has had.
"He did give a hint of the pressure he was under when he said he was unable to get to his house at the moment because of the media intrusion.
"He is not used to the media glare, he is not used to the intense spotlight he has been put under."
Responding to the news that a body had been discovered, Mr Ottaway said it would be a "tragedy of ghastly proportions" if "political machinations" had resulted in his death.
The MP added: "He was quite obviously used by the government and the Ministry of Defence.
"It brings now into question this whole regime of spin and manipulation ... by the government and its advisers."
Huge media attention has been focused on Dr Kelly since the MoD said he had admitted meeting Andrew Gilligan, the BBC correspondent behind a story claiming Downing Street had "sexed up" a dossier about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Another member of the Commons committee, Labour MP Greg Pope, told BBC News that Dr Kelly "looked like a man under a great deal of pressure when we interviewed him on Tuesday".
"I was quite concerned and other members of the committee felt the same way."
"Some people thought he had been made a fall guy by his employers, other people thought he had been put in a very difficult position by the BBC's decision not to reveal whether or not he was Mr Gilligan's main source.
Another member of the committee, Tory MP John Maples, agreed that Dr Kelly had been "badly treated".
"I don't think he was entirely happy giving evidence to a select committee," he said.
"When he came to give evidence, obviously he would rather not have been there."
Labour committee member Eric Illsley said he was "shocked" by this "sinister twist to the whole inquiry".
"In my long experience of select committees I cannot recall anything remotely similar to this.
"I find it incredible that someone who had given evidence to a select committee on any subject should disappear in circumstances like this," he said.
Liberal Democrat committee member David Chidgey told BBC News: "Most of the witnesses that come before us think they are going to be facing an ordeal.
"We try to be as firm as we can and clarify the issues as firmly and accurately as possible - so in that sense it is challenging."
But Mr Chidgey added: "Dr Kelly did not seem to be suffering unduly from the examination he was going through."
Political editor of the Spectator, Peter Oborne, told BBC News that Dr Kelly was "a nice, quiet, honorable man" who had become the victim of a game played by journalists and politicians.
"Somebody made the decision to put his name forward into the public domain.
"The decision was not made by him, it was made by Downing Street."
<h6>Source: BBC</h6>

Not the conservitive party dirty tricks department again...whatever happened to the prostitute who was uncovering Jeffry Archer? oh she went missing to. [img]graemlins/blueblink.gif[/img]

<font color = lightgreen>Of course it wasn't an accident! Didn't this guy know he was a walking corpse for some time now? He won't be the last, of that I can assure you. [img]graemlins/firedevil.gif[/img]

Anyone remember the VP from Enron who committed "suicide"? [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img] </font>

You may laugh wellard but this is very serious. Blair almost went to pieces during a speech in Tokyo, there is a chance that his Head of Communication, Alistair Campbell (slimy snake) and even the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon may have to resign. Glenda Jackson has already said that Blair should resign.

Phoney under pressure

Blair under pressure over Kelly death
Prime Minister Tony Blair has faced intense questioning over the death of Iraq weapons expert Dr David Kelly, but says judgment must wait until an inquiry is complete.
He was asked if he had "blood on his hands" during a press conference in Tokyo, where he was meeting his Japanese counterpart on the first leg of a tour of the Far East.

Mr Blair said an independent judicial inquiry into the affair was due to be held and "we should make our judgement after we get the facts".

He called for "respect and restraint" until the full circumstances were known.

Police confirmed on Saturday that a body found at an Oxfordshire beauty spot on Friday is that of Dr Kelly, a Ministry of Defence adviser.


Mr Blair was asked if he had Dr Kelly's death on his conscience, but would only express his "deep sorrow" for the tragedy.

He was also asked if defence secretary Geoff Hoon or his communications chief Alastair Campbell would resign over the affair, but refused to be drawn.

"I don't think it is right for anyone, ourselves or anybody else, to make a judgment until we have the facts," he said.

"The person who can conduct this inquiry is someone who is highly respected and will get to the truth of what has happened."

The BBC's political correspondent Guto Harri said the prime minister looked under "enormous emotional strain and couldn't hide it".

Earlier Mr Blair said he was profoundly saddened for Mr Kelly and his family.

"He was a fine public servant who did an immense amount of good for his country in the past and I'm sure would have done so again in the future," he said.

Dr Kelly, 59, had been caught up in a row between the BBC and the government about the use of intelligence reports in the run-up to the war with Iraq.

A body matching his description was found at 0920 BST in a wooded area at Harrowdown Hill, near Faringdon, after his family had reported him missing on Thursday night. A post mortem examination was carried out overnight on Friday at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Officials stressed the judicial inquiry would not be the wide-ranging investigation into the run-up to the war urged by opposition MPs. It will be headed by a law lord - Lord Hutton - and is expected to take a matter of weeks not months.

BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti says it is likely to look at Dr Kelly's contact with journalists, as well as how and why his name got into the public domain. Dr Kelly had earlier this week appeared before the Commons foreign affairs select committee as part of its inquiry into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq.

He told MPs he had spoken to BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan, but denied he was the main source for a story about claims that a dossier on Iraq had been "sexed up" to boost public support for military action.

Commons foreign affairs committee chairman Donald Anderson defended the questioning by MPs. "If it was strong, the criticisms appear to be more directed against the Ministry of Defence, rather than against him," he said. Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay apologised for "any stress" his combative questioning at the hearing had "unintentionally" caused Dr Kelly.

Dr Kelly's local MP Robert Jackson said the BBC should have confirmed that the government adviser was not the main source for the BBC story. "The pressure was significantly increased by the fact the BBC refused to make it clear he was not the source," said the Tory MP for Wantage.

A BBC spokesman said: "We are shocked and saddened to hear what has happened and we extend our deepest sympathies to Dr Kelly's family and friends."

Dr Kelly left his home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, about 1500 BST on Thursday, and was reported missing at 2345 BST. His body was found lying on the ground, just a few miles from his home. Police said the case was being treated as an "unexplained death".

TV journalist and family friend Tom Mangold said he had spoken to Mr Kelly's wife, Janice. He said: "She told me he had been under considerable stress.
"She didn't use the word depressed, but she said he was very, very stressed and unhappy about what had happened and this was really not the kind of world he wanted to live in."

Dr Kelly and his wife have three daughters Sian, 32, and 30-year-old twins Rachel and Ellen.


------------------------

Interesting the labour MP for Wantage want's to b;ame the BBC. Will these arseholes never accept responsibility.

<h3>BBC says Kelly was weapons source</h3>
The BBC has disclosed that Dr David Kelly was the principal source for its controversial report claiming Downing Street "sexed up" an Iraq weapons dossier.
BBC director of news Richard Sambrook broke the news after speaking to the family of the Iraq weapons expert, who was found dead on Friday.
He said the corporation believed it correctly interpreted and reported the information obtained from Dr Kelly during interviews.
Mr Sambrook said the BBC had, until now, owed Dr Kelly a duty of confidentiality and was "profoundly sorry" that his involvement as the source for the reports had ended in tragedy.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking as he left Korea for China, said: "I am pleased that the BBC has made this announcement. Whatever the differences, no one wanted this tragedy to happen.
"I know that everyone, including the BBC, have been shocked by it. The independent Hutton Inquiry has been set up, it will establish the facts.
"In the meantime our attitude should be one of respect and restraint, no recrimination, with the Kelly family uppermost in our minds at this time."
Earlier Mr Blair said he would accept responsibility for all the actions of government ministers and officials, but ruled out recalling Parliament.
Police confirmed on Saturday Dr Kelly, a senior Ministry of Defence adviser, had bled to death from a cut to his wrist.

60% source
In an e-mail reportedly sent to a New York Times journalist hours before his death, Dr Kelly had apparently warned of "many dark actors playing games".
The Sunday Times says Dr Kelly told one of its reporters that he felt betrayed by the leaking of his name by the Ministry of Defence and was under "intolerable" pressure by being placed at the centre of the weapons row.
Last week Dr Kelly had told MPs he had spoken to BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan, but said he did not believe he was the main source for a story about claims that a dossier on Iraq had been "sexed up" to boost public support for military action.
He told the MPs: "From the conversation I had I don't see how he could make the authoritative statement he was making from the comments I made."
According to television journalist Tom Mangold, a friend, Dr Kelly believed he was the source for about 60% of Mr Gilligan's report.

Responsibility
The government has set up an independent judicial inquiry, led by Lord Hutton, into the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly's death. Both Mr Blair and the BBC have said they will cooperate fully.
The BBC statement prompted Dr Kelly's local MP, Tory Robert Jackson, to call for the resignation of the BBC chairman Gavyn Davies.
Ex-Labour minister Glenda Jackson has called for Tony Blair to quit, saying the blame for Dr Kelly's death lay with Downing Street, which, she said, used a battle with the BBC to divert attention from the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has called for Parliament to be recalled and for a broadening of the inquiry to investigate the government's handling of intelligence on Iraq.
But the prime minister told Sky News' Sunday With Adam Boulton programme that a recall of Parliament would "generate more heat than light" and that Dr Kelly's family should be allowed time to grieve.
Mr Blair said he would take responsibility for the actions of officials such as his communications director Alastair Campbell: "In the end the government is my responsibility and I can assure you the judge will be able to get to what facts, what people, what papers he wants."
He added: "At the present time this is far more something to do with the personal tragedy of Dr Kelly and I think that's actually what should be uppermost in our minds and has been in mine."
Asked if he had the appetite to go on as prime minister, Mr Blair replied: "Absolutely."

Obsession
Dr Kelly's family said he was a "loving, private and dignified" man and appealed for time to grieve.
His body was discovered in woodland near his Oxfordshire home on Friday morning, with a knife and a packet of painkillers close by.
Richard Butler, former chief UN weapons inspector, said it appeared the British, American and Australian governments had "pumped up" the threat in the run-up to war.
Mr Butler told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend that Dr Kelly, a friend and colleague, was a "good man... of probity and integrity".
"It follows logically from that, if he thought that things were being pumped up, he would have objected to it."
Dr Kelly is survived by his wife, Janice, and three daughters Sian, 32, and 30-year-old twins Rachel and Ellen.
<h6>Source: BBC</h6>

It seems he commited suicide, by cutting his own wrists. That's what i hear in the news here. He couldn't handle the pressure anymore. Let's just wait until this thing is investigated.

<h3>Blair in crisis after Iraq expert's suicide</h3>
LONDON, July 20 — Haunted by accusations he over-sold the need for war in Iraq and now by the suicide of a key player in the affair, Britain's Tony Blair stood mum when asked: ''Have you got blood on your hands Mr Prime Minister?''
As the affair turned into the biggest political crisis of Blair's six years as prime minister, there appeared to be no end to questions like the one which silenced him at a Saturday news conference during a visit to Japan.
Some within his own Labour Party called for his resignation -- a demand he rejected.
But with his popularity waning in opinion polls and the war in Iraq anything but over, political sources said the 50-year-old leader risked losing two of his closest comrades in power while his party threatened to fracture over a war most did not support.
Blair's political fortunes took a turn for the worse with the discovery on Friday of the body of David Kelly, 59, a Defence Ministry biologist and former U.N. weapons inspector. After being forced into the public gaze, Kelly was found dead in countryside near his home with a wrist slashed.
Political sources said Blair's right-hand man Alastair Campbell and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon may both be under threat. Much will depend on an independent inquiry into Kelly's death expected to be completed in September.
The British Broadcasting Corp, under pressure itself over its handling of a report on the affair, said on Sunday that Kelly was the principal source behind its claim that Blair exaggerated intelligence to make the case for war in Iraq.
The BBC report said the prime minister's team inflated intelligence, particularly a claim that before his ouster Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could unleash biological or chemical weapons at just 45 minutes notice.
Last week, Kelly said he did not make that assertion. But his death underscored the viciousness of a war of words between the BBC and Campbell, Blair's communications director.
Critics of the government said the affair put Kelly under terrible pressure by making him go public to try to discredit the BBC report and therefore clear Campbell and Blair.
Blair's backers disagreed.
''What is absolutely clear is this whole series of events was started by the BBC,'' Gerald Kaufman, head of parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, told Sky Television.

BROADER ISSUES
Even as the bickering raged, the broader issues about Iraq kept plaguing Blair. Most Britons opposed military action before it happened and will be slow to forgive if the reasons Blair gave for doing so are not proved.
His Labour Party will be even more aghast. If no evidence of banned weapons is turned up before his party's annual conference in late September, the prime minister could face open revolt, political heavyweights said.
One senior Labour parliamentarian, not a frequent Blair critic, said Blair needed some evidence that Saddam had banned weapons.
''If he hasn't, the party will plunge into deeper turmoil than ever,'' the legislator told Reuters. ''A prime minister without a party will not be prime minister for long.''
Labour parliamentarians who opposed the Iraq war and much of Blair's political agenda said Blair should quit.
''There should be resignations. Bullets should be bitten,'' former minister Glenda Jackson said.
She accused Blair's team of using an argument with the state broadcaster to divert attention from their main problem -- that no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.
Blair has bought himself time by announcing an inquiry into Kelly's death. But if senior judge Lord Hutton criticises government figures when he reports back in September, it will be difficult for them to hang on.
''I'm sure when Lord Hutton comes to give his conclusions ...everybody who might be affected by those judgments has to reflect hard and long on their positions,'' Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said.
<h6>Source: MSNBC</h6>