Iraq War inspector Kelly’s body exhumed

The body of a weapons inspector whose suicide rocked the British establishment has been exhumed after 14 years.

Dr David Kelly was found dead in 2003 following an intense round of questioning by a parliamentary committee over his leaking of government secrets.

According to Thames Valley Police, his remains were exhumed at the request of his family.

Kelly had engaged in an unauthorised conversation with Andrew Gilligan, then a BBC journalist, contributing details to a Today programme story on the “sexed up” Iraq War dossier. The programme had claimed information regarding Saddam Hussein’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction was hyperbolic.

He was initially reported missing by his wife after going for a walk, before being found in a woodland near his Oxfordshire home.

According to the ensuing Hutton inquiry, Dr Kelly took his own life by overdosing on painkillers and cutting his wrist with a knife.