Kelly queried Gilligan report

Andrew Gilligan met Dr Kelly on 22 May

Dr David Kelly raised the possibility that BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan "embellished" details of their 22 May meeting, it has emerged.

The government scientist highlighted this possible scenario in a letter to a "line manager" at the Ministry of Defence three weeks before his death.

Details of the letter were disclosed on Friday by Lord Hutton as he opened an inquiry into the how the 59-year-old arms control expert died.

Dr Kelly was at the centre of a row between the government and the BBC over claims about Iraq's weapons capability.

He told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee he did not think he was the main source for a BBC report alleging the government had "sexed-up" a dossier on weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Gilligan, a reporter for BBC Radio 4's flagship Today news programme, is among those who will be called to give evidence to the Hutton inquiry.

Dr Kelly's letter, dated 30 June and sent to his MoD "line manager", confirmed that he had met the journalist in London on 22 May for 45 minutes to "privately discuss his Iraq experiences and definitely not to discuss the dossier".

Blair to face Hutton inquiry

That is a reference to a dossier at the centre of the row about Iraq's weapons capability.

Mr Gilligan told the Today programme on 29 May that a senior British official has told him that the government's dossier on Iraq, published last September, was "sexed up" against the wishes of the intelligence services.

However, Dr Kelly's letter says that he did not recognise himself as the source of Mr Gilligan's information.

He states: "I can only conclude one of three things. Gilligan has considerably embellished my meeting with him; he has met with other individuals who truly were intimately associated with the dossier; or he has assembled comments from both multiple, direct and indirect sources for his articles."

Lord Hutton did not disclose other parts of this letter but he did say that the letter prompted discussions between ministers and officials in the MoD and other departments.

"I intend to hear detailed evidence in relation to those discussions," Lord Hutton said.