M A I N   N E W S

Kelly death probe to be public

Britain's Lord Hutton holds a news conference in London on Monday. Hutton, asked by Prime Minister Tony Blair to head an inquiry into the suicide of British government scientist David Kelly, said on Monday he would make his own decision on the extent and scope of the investigation.  — Reuters photo

London, July 21
The head of an inquiry into the suicide of a British Government scientist embroiled in a vicious row over the Iraq war said today that he would make his own decision on the extent and scope of the investigation.

Lord Hutton, asked by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to investigate what led scientist David Kelly to slit his wrist last week, stressed that his probe would be mostly public and that he, not the government, would decide how deep it would go.

‘’I make it clear that it will be for me to decide as I think right within my terms of reference the matters which will be the subject of my investigation,’’ he said in a statement. “My terms of reference are these: urgently to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Kelly.’’

Lord Hutton said the government had assured him that it would give its fullest cooperation. Blair’s government has been thrown into a crisis by Kelly’s death, but the Prime Minister, currently on a tour of Asia, has called for a period of calm and respect for the dead man’s family.

He has said he will cooperate personally with Lord Hutton.

The pressure on Mr Blair eased a little today as newspapers turned on the British Broadcasting Corporation over its admission that Kelly was ‘’the principal source’’ for its report at the centre of the row which alleged that London had hyped intelligence on Iraqi weapons to justify war. — Reuters