[Big Bad Bob]

THIS IS ON THE SKY NEWS WEBSITE

An official adviser named as the possible "mole" for a BBC report claiming the Government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqi weapons, has disappeared.

Dr David Kelly went missing from his home near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at around 3pm yesterday.

The 59-year-old had told his wife he was going for a walk, Thames Valley Police said

The family raised the alarm when he had failed to return by 11.45pm last night.

Dr Kelly faced a grilling on Tuesday by MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee about what he told BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan.

It was Mr Gilligan who filed the original report claiming the Government had "sexed up" the weapons dossier.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1097383,00.html

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[Int]

Man named as BBC source reported missing

Ciar Byrne
Friday July 18, 2003
The Guardian

David Kelly, the government adviser named as the possible source for the BBC's report claiming the government "sexed up" a key intelligence dossier on Iraq, has been reported missing by his family.

The 59-year-old went missing from his home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at 3pm yesterday afternoon after telling his wife he was going for a walk, according to Thames Valley Police.

His family contacted police when he had failed to return by 11.45pm yesterday, four days after he gave evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the affair.

"We have launched a major search operation. We are very concerned for his wellbeing and are searching all the possible areas where he may be. His family have said this is completely out of character," a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police told Sky News.

Dr Kelly, who volunteered to give evidence to the foreign affairs select committee, admitted to MPs last week he had met the BBC defence correspondent, Andrew Gilligan, on three occasions since September 2002.

With two defence ministry police sitting behind him, Dr Kelly confirmed he met Gilligan in a central London hotel on the same day that the reporter said he met his sole source at a central London hotel.

But Dr Kelly said he did not believe he could be the primary source of the report at the centre of a bitter row between the BBC and No 10.

"I believe I am not the main source. From the conversation I had with him I don't see how he could make the authoritative statements he was making from the comments that I made," Dr Kelly said.

Committee members were critical of the government's handling of Dr Kelly, saying he had been the "fall guy" and had been "poorly treated" by the defence minister.

However, the Ministry of Defence has stood by its claims that Dr Kelly was the sole source of the story, pointing to Gilligan's evidence that he had relied on one source and that three other sources mentioned had not discussed the September dossier or had done so only later.

Dr Kelly has been under enormous pressure since he admitted making contact with Gilligan. He was officially reprimanded for having an "unauthorised" meeting with a journalist, and recently complained that his home was surrounded by journalists.

Conservative MP Richard Ottaway, a member of the foreign affairs committee, said Dr Kelly had recently alluded to the level of pressure he was under.

"At the meeting last week he did hint at the sort of pressure he was under," Mr Ottaway said. "He was asked to provide some evidence and he replied that he would do so but he could not get into his house because of the media pressure."

The chairman of the committee, Donald Anderson, said he was "shocked" by the news of Dr Kelly's disappearance.

"When he appeared before the committee, yes, he was softly spoken, but he seemed to be pretty relaxed and the committee was not at all aggressive or hostile in our questioning of him," he told Sky News.

Dr Kelly was described by police as an avid walker with good local knowledge of the many footpaths surrounding his home, which is near the river Thames.

Police said it was not unusual for him to walk for two or three hours at a time, but unusual for him to do this alone.

Thames Valley Police has scheduled a news conference on Dr Kelly's disappearance for 10.30am this morning.

[xm177e2]

If he kills himself, some people will assume he was murdered, and make him out to be a hero. He might find that fate more comforting than facing his colleagues/the parliament and being forced to admit he's a liar.

[Int]

Guardian: LATEST: Police searching for David Kelly find man's body. More details soon ...

Tragic

[piasa]

bumping this for later reading...

[mewzilla]

Bet he's done a bunk.

[Brilliant]

I can't decide if it's more like Blair Witch, or the Vince Foster incident.

[George W. Bush]

Facing ruin over the imminent exposure his false allegations against the Blair government, the stress gave him a heart attack.

Just my theory. We'll see.

[sam_paine]

I thought Kelly was the name of the guy with all the huge WMD documentation that the US is going through right now? What was his name?

[TomGuy]

FoxNews just announced confirmation from British government that the body IS that of Prof. David Kelly. Still no word about whether it is homicide or natural causes.

[Timesink]

This is the nascent Mainstream Media Shenanigans ping list. Please freepmail me to be added or dropped. (Or if you can think of a better name.)

Please note this will likely become a high-volume list.

[Timesink]

The story (and FR thread) of this scandal from last night, before Mr. Kelly pulled a Vince Foster:

Journalist accused over dossier story (Did BBC Reporter Lie To Screw Over Tony Blair?)

[Republican Red]

Interesting.... I've read two different stories, an AP story and "This is London" story and it appears that Kelly was very stressed and very distraught. Suicide looks like it could be the cause. If this panns out it appears that the press could be set to take the blame.

From This Is London: http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/5812021?source=PA

Tom Mangold, a television journalist and close friend, said he had spoken to Dr Kelly's wife Janice this morning.

She had said her husband was deeply unhappy and furious at how events had unfurled.

"Mr Mangold expressed anger at the way Dr Kelly had been treated in recent weeks.

He said: "If Dave Kelly is dead, he is dead because of something that happened in journalism which means that we all have to look to our consciences," he said.

"He was not passionately interested in journalism or journalists, he was passionately interested in what happens in Iraq"

From AP:
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA8QE6AAID.html

Conservative committee member Richard Ottaway also said Kelly had suggested he was under great strain.

"At the meeting last week he did hint at the sort of pressure he was under," Ottaway said. "He was asked to provide some evidence and he replied that he would do so but he could not get into his house because of the media pressure."

[lainde]

bttt

[Grampa Dave]

Does David Kelly look like this guy?