BRITAIN: In London yesterday Mrs Janice Kelly, the wife for 36 years of Dr David Kelly, described in quiet, unemotional detail the excruciating pressure he felt under after he was identified as the likely source for BBC reports suggesting No 10 Downing Street had exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
Mrs Kelly told how her husband came home on July 8th - nine days before his death - and seemed "quiet". They had a meal and went to watch the news on television but had not yet discussed how his day had gone.
"He seemed a little bit reluctant to come and watch the news," she said. "The main story was that a source had identified itself and then immediately David said to me 'It's me.'
"My reaction was total dismay, my heart sank and I was terribly worried because the fact that he said that to me . . . I knew that he was aware that his name would be in the public domain quite soon."
She said her husband had seemed "desperately unhappy about it, really really unhappy, totally dismayed". She added: "He mentioned that he had had a reprimand at that stage from the MoD [Ministry of Defence\] but that they had not been unsupportive."
Mrs Kelly said her husband told her he might have to leave his job. He seemed certain that his name would become public.
Mrs Kelly described a visit from a Sunday Times journalist, Nick Rufford. "We had been sitting out having a coffee in the garden. "David had gone to put the tools away that he had been using during the day. . . I suddenly looked and David was talking to somebody. No journalist had ever turned up before this. I was extremely alarmed."
Mrs Kelly said her husband confirmed later what she thought she had overheard, which was Rupert Murdoch's name and Dr Kelly asking Mr Rufford to leave after only about four to five minutes.
When asked what the conversation was about, Mrs Kelly said they had been offered hotel accommodation in return for an article. "He \ said that David was to be named that night and the press were on their way in their droves.
"That was the language that David used; I'm not sure if Nick used that. He was very upset." Mrs Kelly said her husband felt "the gloves were off now" and that his name would be used in any article by Mr Rufford.
As he was telling her about his conversation with the journalist, she said she knew of a house where they could go if needed.
He then received a phone call from the MoD. When he came out, he told her: "I think we will be needing that house after all. The MoD press office have just rung to say we ought to leave the house, and quickly, so we would not be followed by the press."
The couple then drove to a hotel in Somerset, before later travelling on to Cornwall. He tried to telephone his line manager, Bryan Wells but reached an official named only as Kate. He told her he had "cut and run".
Mrs Kelly said she had never heard him use the phrase before, that it was unusual language for him, and a sign of how much stress he was under. "He was exceedingly upset, we both were, very anxious, very stressed."
The following morning, over breakfast, they both read The Times, which had a couple of articles in it about Dr Kelly. She said the first was a piece by Mr Rufford, giving a brief outline of his contact with Dr Kelly and naming him.
She said the second article had a rundown of his career details, which, she presumed, had been passed on by the MoD. There were several references to Dr Kelly's "lowly status" and when asked what his reaction to that was, Mrs Kelly said: "He was rather knocked back by that."
During the coming days, Dr Kelly received several phone calls telling him of the growing media coverage of the story. One, from Olivia Bosch, who worked for Unscom and the International Institute of Strategic Studies, was particularly troubling.
"Effectively, she was telling him about the press coverage and that did seem to upset him more," she said. "He did not like his name being in the public domain. He didn't like becoming the story."
When he learned in another phone call that he was to give evidence to the [House of Commons\] Foreign Affairs Select Committee, which would be televised, Mrs Kelly said: "He was ballistic, he just did not like that idea at all. He felt . . . it would be a kind of continuation . . . of a reprimand in the public domain."
Mrs Kelly described Dr Kelly's mood during their time away. "He seemed very grim, very unhappy, extremely tense. It was tangible. It was just a nightmare."
Dr Kelly then went to stay with his daughter, Rachel. But before, he bought a copy of the Sunday Times and saw another article by Mr Rufford which, she felt, implied he had had a full-blown interview.
She said: "He said something like 'Thanks Nick, the MoD will think I have been talking to the press when I expressly said I would not.'" Mrs Kelly said they looked at other newspapers and when asked to sum those up, she described them as "totally belittling". She stressed that the Rufford article caused her husband the most upset.
"He didn't think it fair that Nick was presenting it as a full-blown interview. He was in dismay. He hated it that it was not fair."
On July 14th he went to London for a briefing. When he returned, she asked him if he was being supported by the MoD and he said: "I suppose so, yes."
At an earlier hearing of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Dr Kelly had accompanied Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Mrs Kelly told the inquiry her husband was "deeply hurt" to learn that Mr Straw was not satisfied with the technical support the weapons expert had given him.
Mr Straw said he was upset that at the committee meeting "he had been accompanied by somebody so junior", she said. Dr Kelly laughed upon hearing this, but "he was deeply, deeply hurt".
When he gave evidence to the committee, Mrs Kelly thought he looked "very stressed. He looked very uncomfortable, very hot, very stressed ... He felt that he had not done good justice to himself. He felt [Labour MP\] Andrew MacKinlay's comment was an insult."
Dr Kelly had asked his line manager, Dr Wells, if he thought Mr MacKinlay's comment about the weapons expert being "chaff" was an insult. Dr Wells had told him it was a military term but his wife said the comment had "upset him".
She said her husband was in "a nightmare position". He had stayed at Rachel's house on July 15th before appearing at another hearing, this time before the Intelligence and Security Committee on July 16th.
Mrs Kelly took the train back from Cornwall to meet her husband, their daughter and her fiancé at Rachel's house that evening. She said: "He looked totally exhausted. He was able to converse a little but it was very, very strained. I felt he was very tired, he was used up.
"He was obviously very stressed."
Mrs Kelly said they did not speak much about his appearance before the committee of MPs, adding: "He was very tense and very, very tired." She said they then made their way home, which took about 20 minutes.
On arriving home, there was a great deal of mail but he did not pick it up and went into his study to download e-mails, she said. She was not sure whether he replied to any and shortly after they both went to bed.
Mrs Kelly said she and Dr Kelly got up rather later than usual at 8.30 on July 17th. "He seemed subdued and tired but not depressed. He never seemed depressed in all of this but was very tired and subdued.
"He just seemed and looked really very tired and I had started with a huge headache . . . I was physically sick several times because he looked so desperate.
"He had shrunk into himself but I had no idea of what he might do later. He couldn't put two sentences together; he couldn't talk at all.
"I said to him: 'What are you going to do?' and he said 'I will probably go for my walk.' Shortly after I had lain down, he came to ask me if I was OK and I said 'Yes, I will be fine.'"
After a little while, Mrs Kelly said she became "rather worried". Rachel rang and said: "Don't worry, maybe he's gone out for a quiet think." Rachel made a decision to come over and see her parents and she arrived between 5.30 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The family had delayed calling the police until 11.40 p.m., not wanting to make the situation worse, she said. Mrs Kelly said the police were told of her husband's position and "it seemed to immediately go up to chief constable level".
She said she was told on July 18th - the following day - that a body had been found and that police had also found a knife that Dr Kelly had owned since childhood.
Asked how the family reacted to the reports about Dr Kelly being a "Walter Mitty" type character, as suggested by a Downing Street spokesman, who later apologised, Mrs Kelly said: "I was devastated. That was totally the opposite. He was a very modest, shy, retiring man . . . very courteous, very laid back if you like, but he kept to his brief. He did not boast at all. He was very factual and that is what he felt his job was to be, very factual."
Asked if there was anything else she wanted to add, Mrs Kelly said: "Lord Hutton, on behalf of my family, I would like to thank you and your counsel for the dignified way in which you are carrying out this inquiry into my husband's death. We would also like to acknowledge the support our family has received from so many people all over the country and elsewhere."
Rachel Kelly described seeing her father on July 13th when he had come to stay with her after his time in Somerset and Cornwall with Mrs Kelly. "When I first looked at him there was a real strong expression on his face that really shocked me, and I was quite distressed to see the hurt I could see in his face.
"There was a lot of distress and anxiety, perhaps a little bit of humiliation seeing his daughter for the first time since all this news about work had broken.
"He had on his face a look of anxiety, it was a very long look, quite a loving look. I love my father very much. As his daughter I was very concerned to see this vulnerable side of him.
"The moment passed and I was aware that he seemed very gentle, more child-like, and I was very conscious that our roles were reversed and that I needed to look after him and he needed to be looked after."
She added that he had appeared to be "composed outside" about his appearance before the Select Committee but she could see that underneath he was "deeply traumatised".
Recalling how her father felt about one MP's questioning of him during the Foreign Affairs Select Committee meeting: "I was surprised. He said very quietly with some feeling that this man was an utter bastard - not the questions he asked but because of the manner he asked them."
In a final statement to the inquiry, Ms Kelly said: "My heartfelt wish is that as a result of your inquiry, my lord, that people will learn from the circumstances surrounding my father's death and show more compassion and kindness in future to those around them.
"My sisters and I love my father very much. We are immensely proud of his achievements, his love to us is immeasurable and we will always miss him."