Tuesday 2 September 2003

He was betrayed. They broke his heart. They put him in a nightmare. The widow speaks

This poor woman is broken-hearted, the bastards have taken away her beloved husband in the twilight of a productive and honourable life. This government and this country make me sick sometimes, today I am very ashamed of my English half. What the fuck is wrong with us anyway?

He was betrayed, broken hearted. Mrs Kelly speaks

On July 8, David Kelly returned home from a short trip to RAF Honington in Suffolk. That evening, after eating dinner, he and his wife Janice sat down to watch the news. She told the inquiry:

He seemed a little bit reluctant to come and watch the news. The main story was a source had identified itself. Immediately David said to me: 'It's me.' My reaction was total dismay. My heart sank. I was terribly worried because the fact that he had said that to me, I knew then he was aware his name would be in the public domain quite soon. He confirmed that feeling of course.

[ Asked 'how he seemed' ] Desperately unhappy about it, really, really unhappy about it. Totally dismayed. He mentioned he had had a reprimand at that stage from the MoD but they had not been unsupportive, were his words. We talked a little bit generally about it and what it would mean for him in real terms. He was a bit backward in coming forward, may I say, in saying what he meant.

I deliberately at that point said: would it mean a pension problem, would it mean you having to leave your job? He said it could be if it got worse, yes.

Because the MoD had revealed that a source had made itself known, he, in his own mind, said that he knew from that point that the press would soon put two and two together. We have an amazing press in this country _ it does not take them long to find out details of this sort and he is well known of course in his field, so that would have been another easy job for them.

[ On the following day ] He was supposed to be going to London so I was quite surprised when he said he was going to work in the garden all day. Again he got on to his vegetable patch and was working in a rather lacklustre way that particular day but he did receive and make some phone calls as well.

[ Around 7.30pm ] We had both been sitting out having our coffee in the garden after dinner that evening. I was watering the plants and David went to put some tools away he had been using during the day which involved him going into the yard which lay between our house and the main road outside.

I suddenly looked up and there was David talking to somebody. I had not got my glasses on so I moved a little bit closer with the hosepipe to see who it was and I recognised it as Nick Rufford [ of the Sunday Times ]. Nick had been to our house before but only by arrangement, he never just turned up before this. No journalist just turned up before this, so I was extremely alarmed about that.

David confirmed what I thought I had heard afterwards. I heard him say - I heard Nick say, I think, 'Rupert Murdoch' and I heard David say, 'Please leave now'. The conversation only took place over about four or five minutes maximum.

[David] came over to me and said that Nick had said that Murdoch had offered hotel accommodation for both of us away from the media spotlight in return for an article by David. He, David, was to be named that night and that the press were on their way in droves.

That was the language David used, I am not sure Nick used that. He also added -he was very upset and his voice had a break in it at this stage. He got the impression from Nick that the gloves were off now, that Nick would use David's name in any article that he wrote and he was extremely upset.

He said several times over coffee, over lunch, over afternoon tea that he felt totally let down and betrayed. It seemed to me that this was all part of what might have happened anyway because it seemed to have been a very loose arrangement with the MoD, they did not seem to take a lot of account of his time. There was a lot of wasting of his time.

I just felt that this must have been very frustrating for him. David often said: 'They are not using me properly.' He felt that the MoD were not quite sure how to use his expertise at times, although I have later seen his manager's reports on his staff appraisals where he obviously did warrant his, or respect his, expertise. But that is not the impression that I got.

He did not say in so many terms but I believed he meant the MoD [had betrayed him] because they were the ones that had effectively let his name be known in the public domain.

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