London, Sept 25: British Government deceit over
the suicide of Government weapons expert David Kelly, particularly the `hypocrisy` of Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon must be
revealed, the inquiry into his death heard today.
The Kelly family`s lawyer, Jeremy Gompertz, summing
up his argument on the final full day of the inquiry,
launched a stinging attack on the Government for alleged `cynical abuse of power`.
Kelly, 59, was found dead in July, days after being
named by the Ministry of Defence as the suspected source of a
BBC report that said the Government had `sexed up` a controversial
dossier on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.
The Kelly family`s "primary aims are, one, that the Government`s duplicity
in the handling of Dr Kelly should be exposed and, two, that the systematic failings of the MOD (Defence Ministry) should be identified," Gompertz said.
BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan had claimed in a radio
report in May that Prime Minister Tony Blair`s office had
embellished intelligence in a dossier published in September
2002 in a bid to bolster the case for war.
"If, as the family submit, there was a strategy to
to use Dr. Kelly as a witness to undermine Andrew
Gilligan in furtherance of the Government`s dispute with the
BBC, this was a cynical abuse of power and deserves the
strongest possible condemnation," Gompertz said.
Gompertz said the Kelly family felt "deeply hurt and
angered" after Ministry Of Defence Personnel Director Richard
Hatfield had delivered to the inquiry in his evidence "an
arrogant dismissal of Dr Kelly as the author of his own
misfortune".
Bureau report
