It refers to yet further evidence that the Hutton Inquiry was inadequate and irregular.
Lord Hutton stopped taking oral evidence at a time when the Police inquiries had not been completed.
And Lord Hutton knew that they hadn't been completed!
The title of the email was:
David Kelly - The Police investigation was incomplete and Hutton knew it
The text of the email was:
Mr McGinty,
This email is intended for the attention of the Attorney General in connection with a possible application to the High Court for an Order that an inquest be held into the death of Dr. David Kelly.
The issue to which I wish to draw the Attorney General's attention is, in my view, yet more evidence of "insufficiency of inquiry" and "irregularity of proceedings" in the meaning of Section 13 of the Coroners Act 1988.
Stated briefly, Lord Hutton stopped his inquiries into the death of Dr. David Kelly at a time when he knew that Thames Valley Police had not completed their inquiries.
ACC Michael Page gave oral testimony to the Hutton Inquiry on two occasions. The quote which follows is from his second (and final) appearance on the afternoon of Tuesday 23rd September 2003 here:
http://www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk/content/transcripts/hearing-trans28.htm
The quote of the interaction between counsel and ACC Page is on Page 204:
8 Q. Having carried out all your investigations, is there any
9 evidence of the involvement of third parties in
10 Dr Kelly's death?
11 A. I still have a few lines of inquiry to complete,
12 although I should stress that I do not anticipate that
13 those lines of inquiry will reveal anything of an earth
14 shattering nature; and I can say that based upon the
15 inquiries we have made at the moment, further to my
16 statement, that I do not believe that there was any
17 third party involvement at the scene of Dr Kelly's
18 death. I am reasonably satisfied that there was no
19 third party involvement or criminal dimension to
20 Dr Kelly's death in the wider dimension.
21 Q. Including blackmail, for example?
22 A. Including blackmail, for example.
ACC Page informed the Hutton Inquiry, in terms, on 23rd September 2003 that his inquiries were not yet complete.
One can speculate as to the importance of ACC Page's inquiries (whose precise nature he did not disclose), but it is clear from his words that the inquiries were yet to be completed.
Several points arise:
1. If the Police inquiries were incomplete, then it follows that Lord Hutton's inquiries were correspondingly incomplete. This failure on the part of Lord Hutton, I suggest, is "insufficiency of inquiry".
2. Lord Hutton knew that the Police inquiries were incomplete. It was therefore improper and illegitimate for Lord Hutton to conclude his inquiry in such circumstances. This, I suggest, is "irregularity of proceedings".
3. We do not know how many lines of inquiry are encompassed by the phrase "a few lines of inquiry". Nor, in precise terms, do we know the nature of the inquiries. This too, I suggest, is "insufficiency of inquiry".
A properly conducted inquiry or inquest would not have concluded its proceedings in such a way, I suggest.
Given that Police inquiries into the possible involvement of third parties were still "live" then it is, I suggest, wholly inappapropiate, on that ground alone, for Lord Hutton to conclude that David Kelly killed himself.
I would be grateful if you would confirm receipt of this email and that the information contained in it will be considered by the Attorney General.
Thank you.
(Dr) Andrew Watt
An interesting case of insufficiency of inquiry was in the suspicious death of Judge Andrew Chubb in Somerset in 2001.
ReplyDeleteFull details after the second inquest (the first one was quashed) here