Operation Mason

The Operation Mason file details their investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly’s death. Operation Mason began at 2:30pm on July 17th an hour before Kelly left his home for his final walk followed by his disappearance and subsequent discovery of his body the following morning at HarrowDown Hill. This was a full nine hours before Mrs. Kelly notified police that Dr. Kelly was missing. Why was the file opened before Dr Kelly left home. Were his communications being monitered. Did the police know something we have not been told. However, they failed in their duty to protect Dr Kelly.

The Book For several months, Kelly had been communicating with Victoria Roddam, a commissioning editor for Oneworld Publications based in Oxford. One week before Kelly’s death, she had sent him an e-mail that said in part, “I think the time is ripe now more than ever for a title which addresses the relationship between government, policy and war-I’m sure you would agree.” They had been discussing Kelly authoring a book to be published by Victoria’s company.

Another document found among Kelly’s effects at his home and removed by police was an undated hand-written note from Roddam with a list of suggested topics to be included in the book, any one of which would have sent the elite in several countries into a containment mode.

Lots of mysterious deaths And now David Kelly has joined the growing list of world-class microbiologists who have met mysterious deaths and/or been murdered.

Coproxamol The forensic toxicologist Alexander Allan reported finding merely 67 milligrammes of paracetamol in the stomach contents (equivalent to one-fifth of one tablet of coproxamol), and blood level concentrations per millilitre of 97 microgrammes for paracetamol and 1.0 microgrammes for dextropropoxyphene (equivalent to approximately 20 tablets).

Left wrist And forensic biologist Roy Green observed that finding a bloodstain on the right sleeve of Dr Kelly’s jacket was ‘slightly unusual’ in view of the presumed scenario. The pathologist did not mention blood on the right sleeve in his evidence.

Blood It has been estimated that for a person of Dr Kelly’s size to die of haemorrhage, he would need to lose about five pints of blood. But witness accounts did not indicate anything near that amount at the scene.

State of mind At about 11.18 am that morning, Dr Kelly sent several e-mails to friends and colleagues, most anticipating that it would ‘all blow over by early next week’ and indicating his expectation of returning to Baghdad the following Friday. The e-mail messages given as evidence are not indicative of depression, despair, or hopelessness. Nor did Dr Kelly seem uncharacteristically distraught in encounters with two neighbors after leaving the house. Sometime around 3.00 pm he stopped and chatted amiably for a few minutes with neighbor Ruth Absalom, who described him as ‘just his normal self, no different to any other time when I have met him.’ Farmer Paul Weaver also saw Kelly walking through farmland that afternoon, as reported by the 20 July Observer. Weaver commented that Kelly ‘seemed happy enough’ and had smiled at him.

He was also looking forward to his daughter’s wedding in October.

Body position The first person on the scene was Louise Holmes, a volunteer member of the search team who approached to within a few feet of the body. She stated: ‘I could see a body slumped against the bottom of a tree. ... He was at the base of the tree with almost his head and his shoulders just slumped back against the tree. 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.’

The second person to view the body was fellow searcher Paul Chapman. From a distance of 15 to 20 metres he saw: ‘The body of a gentleman sitting up against a tree... He was sitting with his back up against a tree...’

Detective Constable Graham Coe arrived at the scene. His description was quite different: ‘It was laying on its back -- the body was laying on its back by a large tree, the head towards the trunk of the tree.’ He also reported seeing a knife, watch, and small water bottle near the body. Holmes and Chapman did not mention seeing other objects, nor were they questioned about them at the inquiry.

Foul Play On the morning of the day he went missing, Dr Kelly sent an e-mail message to Judith Miller, a journalist acquaintance with the New York Times, containing the line: ‘I will wait until the end of the week before judging - many dark actors playing games.’

David Broucher, British ambassador had asked Kelly what would happen if Iraq were invaded, and Kelly had replied, ‘I will probably be found dead in the woods.’

Dr Hunt’s post mortem examination noted three minor abrasions to the scalp, a small abrasion on the inner lower lip, a bruise below the left knee, two bruises below the right knee, and two bruises over the left side of the chest. His supposition that these injuries may have been sustained through contact with the undergrowth or by stumbling about in the brush merits further critical analysis.

We are told in Louise Holmes’ and Paul Chapman’s testimonies that they met some people on a riverboat. No one is asked about these people. We are not even told how many there were on this boat. All we know is that they saw a helicopter the previous night and some police officers “at some point previously”. Is it conceivable that the riverboat was in fact the ideal hidey-hole for an assassination squad, and “riverboat people” the ideal cover for a group of MI5 look-outs? Maybe (just maybe) DC Coe and DC Shields were heading for that riverboat to check if everything was going to plan.

Asst Chief Constable Page gave evidence that he had been contacted by a witness who reported seeing three men dressed in dark or black clothing between 8.30 and 9.30 am on 18 July near the site where Dr Kelly’s body was found.

The third man Search adviser PC Franklin stated he had believed there were only two volunteers out searching at that time, and he had anticipated that after receiving the call he and search team leader PC Sawyer ‘were going to be the first team out on the ground.’ He evidenced surprise at having found DC Coe and the ‘two uniformed police officers’ there, commenting ‘I had no idea what he was doing there or why he was there. He was just at the scene when PC Sawyer and I arrived.’

PC Sawyer stated: ‘We continued walking up the hill, where I saw DC Coe and two uniformed officers. ...The three officers -- DC Coe and the two uniformed officers -- stayed on the path which leads through the woods.’

DC Coe affirmed he had only one companion. But at least four other witnesses contradicted his account, specifically stating (some more than once) that he had been accompanied by two other men. Lord Hutton dismissed these discrepancies by noting that ‘entirely honest witnesses often give evidence as to what they saw at the scene which differs as to details.

It does not appear that the inquiry attempted to verify who DC Coe was with, why they were at the scene, and whether or not he and his two companions were the three men in dark clothing witnessed earlier that morning near Harrowdown Hill.

In the witness box Coe claims that he is with only one other officer. But five previous witnesses - the dog-handler/searcher, Louise Holmes, the two official search officers, PCs Franklin and Saunders, and the two paramedics, Vanessa Hunt and David Bartlett - clearly state he is with two others.

No mention is made of a third officer in this testimony. Nor is Coe ASKED about a third officer.

Thank you to
Jim Rarey
Rowena Thursby
for fantastic research.