UK Defence Secretary visits widow of David Kelly

By KIM SENGUPTA and MARIE WOOLF

Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, visited the widow of Dr David Kelly at her home on Wednesday after she had demanded to see him.

The unexpected call came as it emerged that Dr Kelly had access to intelligence on Iraq and links with the espionage services, and was not just a "middle ranking technician", as Downing Street has claimed.

New information reveals that Dr Kelly was a consultant to the Defence Intelligence Analysis Staff which can draw upon classified information provided by MI6, MI5, GCHQ, military intelligence as well as material supplied by allied espionage services.

In this capacity Dr Kelly, who was also one of the most experienced experts on weapons of mass destruction in the country, played a significant role in providing information for the Government's September Iraq arms dossier. He was asked, according to senior sources, to make an assessment of weapon making material and equipment the Iraqi regime could have been hiding for the Joint Intelligence Committee compiling the dossier.

It also emerged that the scientist, who killed himself last week, was used by the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) to interrogate Iraqi defectors claiming to have information on Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Like the chairman of the JIC, John Scarlett -former MI6 station chief in Moscow-Dr Kelly is a holder of the CMG, the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George. In the usual career path in the intelligence related field he was likely to have received a knighthood on his retirement.

Mr Hoon and Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's director of communications, have been accused of responsibility for Dr Kelly's identity being disclosed to the media, after he was promised anonymity by the Ministry of Defence. According to Whitehall sources, Mrs Kelly had asked to see the defence secretary to explain how his name was released to the newspapers.

During yesterday's visit to Mrs Kelly,Mr Hoon is reported to have expressed his sorrow over her husband's death. Four days earlier he had declared that he had nothing to apologise for. Mr Hoon, sombre faced, left the house near Abingdon, in Oxfordshire, after spending an hour and 17 minutes. Asked about the purpose of the visit, he replied in a barely audible whisper " I came to see Mrs Kelly".

Dr Kelly was the main source for allegations by the BBC that No 10 had "sexed up" last September's dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

The Government had consistently sought to downplay Dr Kelly's position and his role over the dossier. The Prime Minister's official spokesman had described him as a "technical expert on machinery and equipment...He was not someone who had access to the intelligence which was included in the dossier."

The MoD had claimed in a statement that Dr Kelly's " contribution to the dossier of September 22 was to contribute towards drafts of historical accounts.

Following the Iraq invasion, Dr Kelly was assigned by the Government to the Iraq Survey Group, set up by the United States and Britain to track down Saddam Hussein's alleged WMD arsenal. The organisation is headed by General Keith Dayton, opertations director of the Pentagon's Defence Intelligence Agency.

One of the reasons for this secondment was his vast experience of Iraq. He had led the first team of United Nations biological weapons inspectors to Iraq after the first Gulf War and visited the country 37 times. He also interrogated a number of Iraqi scientists including Dr Rihab Taha --- known as "Dr Germ" --- the head of Saddam Hussein's biological weapons programme.

Dr Kelly was also used by MI6 to debrief a Russian defector, Vladimir Pasechinik, codename Truncate, in 1989. Under systematic questioning, Mr Pasechinik, the director of the Institute for Ultrapool Biological Preparations in Leningrad, disclosed the full extent to Russia's biological programme.

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Herald Feature: Iraq