Full Dr Kelly inquest may be held

The weapons expert said Iraq was a threat to its neighbours

A full inquest into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly is being considered, it has emerged.

Nicholas Gardiner, the coroner for Oxfordshire where Dr Kelly died, says the Hutton report, due next week, will be "crucial" to his decision.

Lord Hutton's report is into the circumstances of Dr Kelly's death.

It had been thought the report would make an inquest unnecessary but Mr Gardiner told BBC News Online he would "have to consider" holding one.

The news came as Commons leader Peter Hain confirmed Tony Blair would make a statement to MPs on Wednesday "shortly after" the report is published and was "committed to answering all the questions put to him".

Exceptional reasons?

A day's debate will be held on the Hutton report on 4 February.

The Hutton report is clearly crucially relevant Nicholas Gardiner Coroner for Oxfordshire

Dr Kelly apparently killed himself after being named as the suspected source of a BBC report claiming the government "sexed up" a dossier on the threat from Iraq.

The original inquest into his death was adjourned last year, but Mr Gardiner confirmed he was now considering holding a full inquest.

"It is something I have to consider under the provisions of the Coroners Act 1988," he told BBC News Online.

"These are largely procedural matters. Of course I have to consider any information available to me, then I have to decide whether there are exceptional reasons for resuming the inquest."

Future plans?

He said the Hutton report may influence that decision.

"The Hutton report is clearly crucially relevant. I shall read what could be somewhere between 800 to 1,000 pages in all their glory."

Nearly a year after going to war, the government has not been able to justify its cause for doing so Liberal Democrat Sir Menzies Campbell Panorama special: Your views

But, he said any inquest was unlikely to be held for some months yet.

The coroner is reported to be planning to meet Thames Valley Police to request access to documents which Lord Hutton never saw, but he dismissed this as merely "a matter of routine".

Meanwhile in the House of Commons, Oliver Heald, for the Tories, pushed for two days to be set aside for a debate on the Hutton report.

He said there would be "justified outrage" from the public if MPs did not have more time on the issue.

But Commons leader Mr Hain accused the Tories of "making mischief" over the debate, which would be led by the prime minister.

'Scepticism'

The exchanges follow Wednesday's BBC Panorama programme which contained a previously unseen interview with Dr Kelly.

The Panorama programme was watched on BBC One by 2.3m viewers - 8.5% of the audience share.

Opposition parties have said the interview reinforces the case for a full inquiry into the Iraq war.

Tory defence spokesman Michael Ancram said Dr Kelly's comments in the interview "do place his views at odds with those presented in the government's September dossier".

Immediate threat?

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said: "These comments clearly underline Dr Kelly's scepticism about the government's claim of an immediate threat."

Downing Street refused to comment on the broadcast, in line with its policy of staying silent until Lord Hutton has reported, next week.

The interview with Dr Kelly was recorded for Panorama in October 2002, a month after the prime minister presented the dossier to Parliament, but never broadcast.

In the interview Dr Kelly was asked whether there was an "immediate threat" from Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Panorama also said BBC executives who stood by Andrew Gilligan without checking his original notes "bet the farm on a shaky foundation".