Full Kelly inquest considered

Tony Blair today faced fresh problems over the death of weapons scientist David Kelly which could inflict severe damage even after the Hutton Inquiry is over.

In a surprise move, it emerged that the coroner for Oxfordshire, where Dr Kelly died, is considering a full inquest later this year.

The inquest would look at evidence that never reached the inquiry and which could cast fresh light on Dr Kelly's final days.

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner was reported to be planning to meet senior officers from Thames Valley Police to demand access to documents which Lord Hutton never saw.

The police are said to have interviewed 500 people and taken 300 witness statements. But fewer than 70 of those were passed to the inquiry because they were deemed not to be relevant.

Today's news threatened to demolish the hopes among ministers that the verdict from Lord Hutton next week would draw a line under the affair. It opened up a new hazard zone amid the continuing row over who should carry responsibility for the weapons scientist's death.

That row was fuelled by the detailed analysis of the affair carried out last night in the BBC's Panorama.

The programme, as reported in yesterday's Evening Standard, broadcast a previously unseen interview with Dr Kelly six weeks before his death.

In it, he said he believed Iraq's chemical and biological weapons did constitute an "immediate" threat. But he also said that it would take days or weeks to make them ready to fire and suggested Saddam Hussein would use them only if attacked.

The programme also highlighted failings in the BBC after its reporter Andrew Gilligan accused the Government of inserting in the dossier on Iraq's weapons the claim that the weapons could be fired within 45 minutes, knowing that was probably false.

Mr Gilligan himself, Panorama pointed out, admitted to the Hutton inquiry he was wrong to make the charge and last night's programme strongly criticised the way the BBC's top brass defended the broadcast without checking the facts.

An inquest could help clear ministers of responsibility for Dr Kelly's death, after he was exposed as Mr Gilligan's source, if it delves into his background and family history.

At least five witnesses interviewed by the police refused to release their statements. Mr Gardiner said: "What their motives might be I have no idea but I think I ought to see them." He added that he had already being sent scores of letters offering fresh information.

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