Day 13: Key points

Here are the key points from evidence of witnesses on day 13 of the Hutton inquiry into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly.

Ruth Absalom

• Ms Absalom, neighbour of Dr Kelly, met him at 1500 BST on 17 July at Harris' Lane, Longworth, about a mile from her home, as he went for his final walk

• She said: "He said 'Hello Ruth' and I said ' Oh hello David how are things?' He said 'Not too bad.' He stood there for a few minutes then Buster my dog was pulling on the lead, he wanted to get going. I said 'I will have to go David', he said 'See you again then Ruth'. And that was it, we parted

• Dr Kelly seemed his normal self, said Ms Absalom

Malcolm Warner

• Dr Warner, Dr Kelly's GP for 25 years, said the scientist had never been to see him showing any sign of depression

• He had never prescribed coproxamol, the drug Dr Kelly took before his death

• He had not been visited by Dr Kelly since 1999

Louise Holmes

• Early on 18 July, search volunteer Ms Holmes, with her tracker dog Brock, helped look for Dr Kelly

• The dog had become agitated as they went through woods and had signalled that he had found something

• Ms Holmes said: "I could see a body slumped against the bottom of a tree - so I turned around and shouted to Paul to ring control and tell them that we had found something and then went closer just to see whether there was any first aid I needed to administer"

• Describing the body, she said: "His legs were straight in front of him. His right arm was to the side of him. His left arm had a lot of blood on it and was bent back in a funny position"

Paul Chapman

• A volunteer search leader, Mr Chapman said he had shown police to the spot where Dr Kelly's body lay

Pc Dean Franklin

• Pc Franklin said a wrist watch had been lying away from Dr Kelly's body next to a lock knife. There was an open bottle of water. The blade of the knife was open, was 3-4 inches long and had blood on it

• Paramedics had arrived, unbuttoned Dr Kelly's shirt and placed 4 sticky pads on the body, he said. They had pronounced Dr Kelly dead at 1007

• There were no signs of a struggle, said Pc Franklin

Pc Martyn Sawyer

• The day after searching the scene of Dr Kelly's home, he had looked inside the scientist's house, taking away documents and finding a photograph in his study

• The photo pictured Dr Kelly outside the parliament buildings in Moscow in 1993 with a man bearing a striking resemblance to BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan - although police officers disagreed about whether it was him.

Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Webb

• Det Sgt Webb said he had been sent to talk to Dr Kelly's wife about his disappearance

• He spoke to Mrs Kelly and her daughters early on 18 July. They had been very hopeful "no harm had come to Dr Kelly. In fact they genuinely believed I think that perhaps he had become ill somewhere"

• Searching the house after the scientist's body was found, Det Sgt Webb said he had found an unopened letter dated 9 July 2003 from Richard Hatfield, the Ministry of Defence personnel director headed "discussions with the media"

• Among other documents found were: handwritten note titled "Gabriel's concerns" about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction; journalists' business cards'; more handwritten notes, including a list of journalists

• There were also: MoD and Foreign Affairs Committee documents about a Dr Kelly's media contacts; and a letter dated 30th June 2003 from Dr Kelly to his line manager headed "Andrew Gilligan and his single anonymous source".

David Bartlett, ambulance paramedic

• He and his colleague declared life extinct

• Mr Bartlett said he had been surprised there was not more blood on Dr Kelly if it was an "arterial bleed"

Barney Leith

• Mr Leith is a member of the Baha'i faith, to which he said Dr Kelly had converted while in America in 1999

• Dr Kelly was treasurer of the local Baha'i spiritual assembly

• Mr Leith said suicide was condemned in Baha'i writings because "it is an undue curtailment of the life that should be lived to the full"

• He said Baha'is did not take a condemnatory attitude to people who commit suicide. "Quite the opposite. There would be a great deal of sympathy as indeed there has been in the case of Dr Kelly"

Professor Keith Hawton

• Prof Hawton is director of the centre for suicide research department of psychiatry at Oxford University

  It was "well nigh certain" that Dr Kelly had taken his own life, he said

• The scientist had chosen a peaceful spot on one of his favourite walks and his injuries were consistent with cutting himself

• Toxicology reports suggested Dr Kelly had taken about 30 coproxamol tablets, which were dangerous in overdose, said Prof Hawton

• Dr Kelly's "tiredness is a sort of theme running through the account from the family", he said

• As a private person, Dr Kelly would have found it "extremely painful" to be named as the BBC's possible source and then to face questions from MPs on television

• The scientist had given "the impression of having felt belittled by some of the questioning" from the Foreign Affairs Committee, said Prof Hawton

• At 1118 BST on the day he went missing, Dr Kelly sent a series of emails to friends and colleagues. Prof Hawton said the striking thing in the messages were the difficulties he was facing, but also about how he had wanted to get back to Iraq.

• Prof Hawton did not think Dr Kelly had been suffering from a severe psychiatric disorder

• The scientist had been told on the day he went missing about more parliamentary questions about his media contacts. Prof Hawton said: "I think it is likely that he would have begun to perceive that the problem was escalating ... and that the prospects for an early resolution of his difficulties were diminishing"

• Dr Kelly had largely kept things to himself

• Prof Hawton said: "The importance about the problems he was facing shortly before his death was that these really challenged his identity of himself, his self esteem, his self worth, his image of himself as a valued and loyal employee and as a significant scientist"

• He thought Dr Kelly's throwaway remark months before his death that he would probably be found "dead in the woods" if Iraq was invaded was "just a coincidence"

• Prof Hawton thought Dr Kelly had begun to fear he would lose his job altogether. That would have filled him with a "profound sense of hopelessness"

• Dr Kelly had probably decided to commit suicide during the day he went missing, said Prof Hawton