The Death of David Kelly - Policemen in threes

If you spend hours reading the Hutton Inquiry transcripts it's surprising what emerges. Surprising little patterns poke their head above ground.

One of the "minor" oddities of the Hutton narrative is how often "policemen" appear in threes.

Policemen in threes make their first appearance within minutes of the "official" narrative of Police involvement.

In response to the initial telephone call to Thames Valley Police three "policemen" arrived at the Kelly home. Janice Kelly gave this testimony to Hutton on the morning of Monday 1st September 2003, pages 51 and 52:

24 Q. And who called the police?
25 A. I think it was Sian, I am not sure. It may have been

52
1 Rachel.
2 Q. The police are called. Do they turn up?
3 A. They turn up. Three of them come with a missing persons
4 form to fill in. I explained the situation that David
5 had been in and it seemed immediately to go up to
6 Chief Constable level.
7 Q. What time did the police arrive? The call I think you
8 told us was about 11.
9 A. Yes. Within 15 minutes they were there.
10 Q. Three turned up?
11 A. Yes.

Following a phone call made at 23.40 on a Thursday evening, three policemen are supposedly in attandance at the Kelly house.

Why three?

Was Thames Valley Police so over-staffed on weekday night shifts that they routinely sent out policemen in threes?

Were all three "policemen" actually policemen?

On the morning of 18th July Louise Holmes meets three "policemen" on the track leading to Harrowdown Hill (evidence given on the morning of Tuesday 2nd September 2003, page 15):

9 A. We walked back towards the car. On the way to the car
10 we met three police officers and Paul took them back to
11 show them where the body was, and I went back to the
12 car.

One of three was DC Graham Coe. Supposedly he was carrying out house to house inquiries. This is part of his evidence given on the morning of Tuesday 16th September 2003:

23 Q. When you got to the police station, what were you asked
24 to do?
25 A. Go and make some house to house inquiries in the area

1
1 where Dr Kelly lived.
2 Q. Where did you then go?
3 A. We spoke to a witness who lived more or less opposite,
4 who had seen Dr Kelly on the afternoon, the Thursday
5 afternoon, and myself and a colleague went to the area
6 where she had last seen him and made a sort of search
7 towards the river.
8 Q. And could you be more precise as to where this river is?
9 A. It is the River Thames. We decided -- from what we were
10 told, since the previous afternoon Dr Kelly was missing
11 we decided to try to find the shortest route to the
12 River Thames.
13 LORD HUTTON: Do you remember the name of the person who had
14 seen Dr Kelly?
15 A. Mrs Ruth Absalom, I believe, my Lord.
16 Q. So did you make a search of the River Thames in that
17 area?
18 A. We did not get so far as the river.

Again one has to ask "why three supposed policemen"?

Who was the third "policeman"?

Concealing his identity was sufficiently important for DC Coe to lie to Lord Hutton about the third person's existence:

20 A. On the route to Harrowdown Hill I met the two people
21 from the volunteer search team, a female and Mr Chapman.
22 Q. And what did they say to you?
23 A. Mr Chapman told me that they had found a body in the
24 woods.
25 Q. Who were you with at this time?

2
1 A. Detective Constable Shields.
2 Q. It is just the two of you?
3 A. Yes.

The name of DC Shields could be disclosed but even the existence of the "third man" couldn't be mentioned.

Does a detective constable lie to a judicial inquiry without cause?

If you send policemen out in threes (rather than, say, in twos) you cut down the number of people you can speak to by a third.

Were Thames Valley Police so over-staffed or so stupid?

Or was the third "policeman" from some organisation other than Thames Valley Police?

And, of course, there are the three unidentified people in dark clothing seen close to the scene at Harrowdown Hill. ACC Michael Page gave this evidence on the afternoon of Tuesday 23rd September 2003 at pages 201 and 202:

15 Q. In the course of your inquiries were you contacted by
16 a person who suggested there had been three men dressed
17 in black wandering around at the time that Dr Kelly's
18 body was found?
19 A. Yes, I think both we and the Inquiry received
20 a communication from a gentleman who expressed concern
21 that he had noticed three individuals dressed in dark or
22 black clothing near the scene where Dr Kelly's body was
23 found. I am speaking from memory, but I think the
24 sighting was at somewhere between 8.30 and 9.30 in the
25 morning, something like that.

202
1 Q. Did you follow up that sighting?
2 A. Yes, we undertook some fairly extensive work. We got
3 statements from all our officers who were at the scene
4 and that was in excess of 50. We plotted their
5 movements on a map and eventually were able to
6 triangulate where the writer was talking about and
7 identify three of our officers, so I am satisfied that
8 I am aware of the identity of these three individuals.

Notice that ACC Page withholds the identity of these individuals and doesn't even say whether they were Police officers or not.

Were they Police? Or something else?

The Hutton Inquiry counsel failed to ask.

Who was the person who observed these unidentified people in dark clothing? We're not told and, astonishingly, he doesn't give oral evidence to the Hutton Inquiry.