The Hutton Inquiry

MS ABSALOM: Yes.

MS ABSALOM: Where am I? Sorry.

MS ABSALOM: Southmoor.

MS ABSALOM: Yes.

MS ABSALOM: Well, from the time he came into the village, I suppose. I do not know how long that was, but a good many years -- several years.

MS ABSALOM: Is that the day I met David?

MS ABSALOM: Just walking the dog.

MS ABSALOM: The width of a road, a main road. I do not know how many yards.

MS ABSALOM: A couple.

MS ABSALOM: Yes.

MS ABSALOM: Well, I usually go about 3 but I went earlier that day, I suppose about quarter past 2.

MS ABSALOM: Yes.

MS ABSALOM: Not until I met Dr Kelly.

MS ABSALOM: Round about 3 o'clock. I could not tell you for sure, I did not bother to look at my watch but I was taking the dog for a walk and --

MS ABSALOM: The top of Harris's Lane, which is in Longworth, the next village. It is about -- roughly about a mile from my home.

MS ABSALOM: Well, he is only a matter of yards across the road from me.

MS ABSALOM: Yes.

MS ABSALOM: Normally. I did not take that much notice.

MS ABSALOM: Well, he had obviously got a jacket on but whether it was a suit or an odd jacket and odd trousers I have no idea. We just stopped, said hello, had a chat about nothing in particular --

MS ABSALOM: He said, "Hello Ruth" and I said, "Oh hello David, how are things?" He said, "Not too bad". We stood there for a few minutes then Buster, my dog, was pulling on the lead, he wanted to get going. I said, "I will have to go, David". He said, "See you again then, Ruth" and that was it, we parted.

MS ABSALOM: Just his normal self, no different to any other time when I have met him.

MS ABSALOM: No, I do not think he was.

MS ABSALOM: Five minutes at the most.

MS ABSALOM: Well, he was going for his walk. I suppose he went to my right, along the road towards Kingston Bagpuize I suppose in the end, if he had gone round that way, but obviously he was going down to the fields down the road or down to the fields down the back.

MS ABSALOM: Yes.

MS ABSALOM: None whatsoever. I am sorry, I wish I could, but that is all I can tell you. I met him at the top of the road there and we had a few minutes' chat and then Buster was pulling his lead and David said, well, he said, "I must get going" and that was it. We parted and he said, "Cheerio Ruth", I said "Bye David". That was it.

MS ABSALOM: All right.

DR WARNER: I am Dr Malcolm Warner.

DR WARNER: I am a family doctor.

DR WARNER: That is right.

DR WARNER: For 25 years.

DR WARNER: I should imagine that as part of the Civil Service he had medicals within the Civil Service, yes.

DR WARNER: That is right, yes.

DR WARNER: No.

DR WARNER: It was many years ago; and I have not seen him as a patient for four years.

DR WARNER: Right.

DR WARNER: No.

DR WARNER: 1999.

DR WARNER: A minor complaint.

DR WARNER: No.

DR WARNER: That is right.

DR WARNER: No.

DR WARNER: No.

DR WARNER: I do not think so, no.

MS HOLMES: It is Louise Holmes.

MS HOLMES: I am a hearing dog trainer.

MS HOLMES: I am a hearing dog trainer.

MS HOLMES: The past two years.

MS HOLMES: I am employed by the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

MS HOLMES: I have been a member of my local search and rescue team for nearly two years now.

MS HOLMES: I did, yes.

MS HOLMES: I arrived there around quarter past/half past 7.

MS HOLMES: I was given a briefing, the name of the person that we were looking for, a description of what he was wearing when he was last seen and I was given an area to go and search.

MS HOLMES: It was done by a police officer and SEBEVs Control manager, Neil Knight.

MS HOLMES: Yes, we were given a photograph and an A4 piece of paper with the name and a description of the missing person on it.

MS HOLMES: Nothing other than what we were told. We were not given any other details. It was made -- it was mentioned it would probably become clearer during the day that it was somebody who was fairly important, but other than that we were not -- I had no idea of who he was.

MS HOLMES: Yes.

MS HOLMES: Not until after the search when somebody said: who is this guy? And then I went: oh yes.

MS HOLMES: I had Paul Chapman with me and then my search dog, because I was out searching with my dog.

MS HOLMES: Brock, yes.

MS HOLMES: He is a border collie crossed with an Australian shepherd.

MS HOLMES: We drove to the start of our search area, which was at the bottom of Common Lane in Longworth.

MS HOLMES: Yes.

MS HOLMES: We parked the car at the bottom of the search area and then started our search from where we had parked.

MS HOLMES: It was about 8 o'clock.

MS HOLMES: Well, I was working with the search dog, so it was a search with the dog and we did it purely as an air scent exercise, so the dog is trained to pick up on particles of human scent and then follow them to their source.

MS HOLMES: Me, the dog and Paul.

MS HOLMES: No.

MS HOLMES: We walked up the track that runs north, I am told, on my map of Common Lane up towards the River Thames.

MS HOLMES: We were given the track to search north up to the River Thames as our boundary and the area of wood to the left of the track. So we did the bottom half of the track, the south boundary of the woods before we were forced to turn back because of a bashed wire fence. So we then searched through the bottom half of the woods which the fence ran all the way through. We then came back out on to the track, continued up the track to the -- to where our boundary was, came back down the track and did the north perimeter of the wood, and then went into the wood from the north.

MS HOLMES: We went up to where we -- where our boundary of our search area was on the Thames and spoke to some people there who were just moored on a boat on the Thames.

MS HOLMES: Well, Brock had found them because he obviously is just trained to pick up on human scent, so he went off and indicated on them and so I had a game with him as a reward. They just said: what are you doing? We said we were assisting the police in the search for a missing male person and if they saw anything to contact the police.

MS HOLMES: They said they had seen the helicopter up the previous night but they had not seen anybody or anything other than that.

MS HOLMES: Yes.

MS HOLMES: We did the north boundary of the wood. The wind was blowing south to north and Brock was scenting in towards the woods. So we came around and came in from the east side of the wood.

MS HOLMES: Yes, Paul was with me.

MS HOLMES: We went into the woods a little way and Brock started to pick up -- he gets quite excited when he gets on to something. And he went off at a quicker pace so I quickened to try to keep up with him, and I just carried on following him and letting him work the area and followed on until he went so that he was nearly almost completely out of my vision, but I could see his tail wagging and he went into the bottom of a tree and then came running back at me barking to indicate that he had found something.

MS HOLMES: No, probably only about 200 metres.

MS HOLMES: No.

MS HOLMES: Nothing, no.

MS HOLMES: He is trained that when he comes back when he has found something he will come back and bark at me, and then I just say: show me. He is trained he will turn round and go back and lead me straight back into what it is that he has found. But he came back and he was barking, so I just said: good boy, where is it? He just sort of laid down and looked at me, at which point I thought: oh okay, he has found something but there is something obviously not quite the same as a normal search or a normal training exercise. So I just went from the direction of which he had come until I got first visual on the body.

MS HOLMES: Yes.

MS HOLMES: He did not actually, he stayed sitting where he was.

MS HOLMES: I could see a body slumped against the bottom of a tree, so I turned around and shouted to Paul to ring Control and tell them that we had found something and then went closer to just see whether there was any first aid that I needed to administer.

MS HOLMES: Within sort of a few feet of the body.

MS HOLMES: He was at the base of the tree with almost his head and his shoulders just slumped back against the tree.

MS HOLMES: 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.

MS HOLMES: Just on the left arm and the left side.

MS HOLMES: Yes, the person matched the description that we had been given.

MS HOLMES: As far as I -- I was happy in my own mind that he was dead and that there was nothing that I could do to help him.

MS HOLMES: He was further back than I was.

MS HOLMES: Yes, and he stayed there to ring Control while I went to check whether there was ...

MS HOLMES: Probably only a couple of minutes, if even that. Just enough to check for any signs of life, make myself happy that there was none and that there was nothing I could do; and then I went to go and reward my dog for his find.

MS HOLMES: I did not touch it, no.

MS HOLMES: I walked as best as I could back out the path I walked in.

MS HOLMES: No, there were no tracks in the wooded area we were searching, no definite tracks anyway.

MS HOLMES: Not that I remember seeing, but ...

MS HOLMES: Paul had tried to ring Control but had been unable to get to them on the number we had for Control so we decided to ring through to ask to speak to Abingdon off a 999 call. So Paul rang the 999 and said we had some information relating to that search, and somebody from Abingdon rang us back and we arranged to walk back to the car to meet the police officer to take them and show them where the body was.

MS HOLMES: Abingdon police station.

MS HOLMES: We walked back towards the car. On the way to the car we met three police officers and Paul took them back to show them where the body was, and I went back to the car.

MS HOLMES: No, on the track, just between the woods and the car.

MS HOLMES: They identified to us who they were. We said who we were and we were involved in the search and we had found the body, and they went with Paul to see.

MS HOLMES: Yes.

MS HOLMES: I went back to the car to sort the dog out and then when I got to the car further police officers and personnel came up to the car to take over, take over the scene.

MS HOLMES: No.

MS HOLMES: Yes, I was around about my car and car area for a while; and then I was taken back to Abingdon police station to give a statement.

MS HOLMES: I just wore my normal walking shoes, trousers.

MS HOLMES: A print was taken of my shoes but they did not retain my shoes, they just took a copy of the soles.

MS HOLMES: Yes.

MS HOLMES: No, I do not think so.

MR CHAPMAN: Paul Philip Sam Chapman.

MR CHAPMAN: I work for Prudential in Reading.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes, I am a member of the Scouts Association and a search controller and team leader for SEBEV Search and Rescue.

MR CHAPMAN: No, none whatsoever. I dislocated my knee falling down some stairs.

MR CHAPMAN: I was.

MR CHAPMAN: I got an initial page soon after 5 o'clock on the 18th.

MR CHAPMAN: In the morning. And then a further text message to indicate we had a call out.

MR CHAPMAN: I replied to the text message to say I was available for the search and could attend at any time that day.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes. Once the call out went live I got my kit together and attended Abingdon police station, where the RV point was.

MR CHAPMAN: Carried in there is standard walking equipment, walking boots, waterproofs, torch and an initial supply of food and water for 24 hours.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes.

MR CHAPMAN: It is a weekend course called a basic search technicians course run by SEBEVs, which is one of the leading training establishments in the country for search and rescue, one of only three. Then ongoing training on a weekly basis through the group.

MR CHAPMAN: Abingdon police station.

MR CHAPMAN: There were a couple of police officers, my search manager, Neil Knight and Louise Holmes.

MR CHAPMAN: The search manager, Neil Knight gave me details of our search.

MR CHAPMAN: I was told the missing person's name, we were given a photo of him, description of what he was wearing.

MR CHAPMAN: David Kelly.

MR CHAPMAN: As far as I remember it was a jacket, a shirt and trousers. I cannot remember the -- the colours were written on the sheet, the descriptions.

MR CHAPMAN: We were tasked initially with a search area of Harrowdown Hill and the pathway running alongside it to the river.

MR CHAPMAN: I was searching with Lou Holmes and her dog Brock.

MR CHAPMAN: 10 or 15 minutes.

MR CHAPMAN: No, Lou drove.

MR CHAPMAN: At the southern end of the path of our search area, just north of Longworth.

MR CHAPMAN: No.

MR CHAPMAN: A few in the village on the way.

MR CHAPMAN: No.

MR CHAPMAN: No, there was no helicopter at all.

MR CHAPMAN: Initial search was we progressed north up the path, Brock ahead of us searching and us searching, checking the ditches either side and the pathway, until we reached the southern perimeter of Harrowdown Hill wood. We then entered the field by the wood, did a search of the southern perimeter of the wood until we reached a barrier, the barbed wire fence halfway round the other side.

MR CHAPMAN: No, we decided not to. We decided to retrace our steps round the wood back to the main path so we knew on the map where we were and what areas we had covered.

MR CHAPMAN: No.

MR CHAPMAN: No, nothing at all.

MR CHAPMAN: We retraced our steps and entered the southern side of the wood and had a look through the inside of the wood, where it was slightly more open.

MR CHAPMAN: Could not see anything. There was the barbed wire fence running the whole way through the woods, so that formed our natural barrier within the wood.

MR CHAPMAN: 50 to 100 metres across, roughly.

MR CHAPMAN: We did, yes.

MR CHAPMAN: Up to the barbed wire, yes.

MR CHAPMAN: The dog was ranging from 5, 10, 15 metres ahead of us, running in and out of the bushes and the areas. We were just following that. There were no paths or anything so we were having to climb across trees and go round all the bushes and things.

MR CHAPMAN: Nothing in the southern area, no.

MR CHAPMAN: We returned to the main path, consulted with each other, looked at the map and decided we would do the rest of the pathway down to the river and get that eliminated, and then come back and do the rest of the wood.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes, we walked all the way down the pathway, which came out to a gate just by the River Thames.

MR CHAPMAN: Not until we reached the river and we met the people on the boat.

MR CHAPMAN: Either three or four, I cannot remember.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes, we did.

MR CHAPMAN: They enquired what we were doing. We explained a search team assisting the police, looking for a missing person, and gave them a rough description of his age and said if they saw anything could they contact the police.

MR CHAPMAN: They had heard the helicopter and seen some police officers at some point previously.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes.

MR CHAPMAN: No.

MR CHAPMAN: We retraced our steps back up the pathway until we reached the wood, came off the pathway and did the northern perimeter of the wood until we came to the other side of the barbed wire fence.

MR CHAPMAN: Initially no, we did the outside of the wood.

MR CHAPMAN: Looking into the wood. But it was quite dense undergrowth so a lot of places you could not actually get in through the perimeter there, but we were checking the wood.

MR CHAPMAN: We did not enter the wood there until we returned back to the main path.

MR CHAPMAN: The dog was running around, like I say, just ahead of us. We were keeping back so we do not affect its scent and smell.

MR CHAPMAN: A guess, about 10 or 15 minutes.

MR CHAPMAN: Nothing. Did not find anything. There were no indications from the dog either.

MR CHAPMAN: Once we reached the barbed wire fence we retraced our steps to the main path, again walking down the side of the wood where it is much more open. We then entered the wood after another 10 or 15 metres, and walked into the wood from there.

MR CHAPMAN: We are in the northern sector of the wood.

MR CHAPMAN: After about five minutes the dog indicates a find and Louise --

MR CHAPMAN: I was in the wood about five metres behind Louise.

MR CHAPMAN: The dog was ahead, I could hardly see the dog at that point. I was just following up the hill and Louise then said -- indicated -- said he had found something and she went forward to investigate, whereas I waited there.

MR CHAPMAN: No, I waited there, as we are trained to do in case it is a scenes of crime or anything, so we do not contaminate it.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes, in case there is evidence or anything like that.

MR CHAPMAN: She came back towards me.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes, she told me we had found the missing person and at that point I tried to contact our Control to let them know.

MR CHAPMAN: We did not on the mobiles, no, because the mobiles were all to answerphone.

MR CHAPMAN: I then rang 999 and asked to be put through to Abingdon police station. They could not transfer me so I asked them to get someone at Abingdon police station to call me urgently.

MR CHAPMAN: On my mobile, yes.

MR CHAPMAN: They called back within a couple of minutes, yes.

MR CHAPMAN: I do not. He just said it was a sergeant at Abingdon police station.

MR CHAPMAN: I reported who I was, a member of the search team, and we had found the missing person, could they please then speak to the search manager and the search police officers there and get them to give me a ring.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes, they did. They called me back straight after that.

MR CHAPMAN: At that point we were walking back down the path towards the car and they said: keep going there and we will send some police officers out to meet you there, back at your car, Louise's car.

MR CHAPMAN: Initially, yes, but then we began walking out of the wood back to the path because we realised that we would have to go and meet the officers, and it was about a 10 minute walk back to the car down the path so we thought it is easiest to get going.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes.

MR CHAPMAN: The body of a gentleman sitting up against a tree.

MR CHAPMAN: All I could see from the distance I got was he was wearing a dark jacket and light coloured shirt.

MR CHAPMAN: I probably reached about 15 to 20 metres from it.

MR CHAPMAN: He was sitting with his back up against a tree and there was an obvious injury to his left arm.

MR CHAPMAN: In as far as it was all covered in blood.

MR CHAPMAN: We retraced our steps back down to the main path and then walked back south along the path to where the car was parked.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes, they did.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes. As we were going down the path we met three police officers coming the other way that were from CID. We identified ourselves to them. They were not actually aware that (a) the body had been found or we were out searching this area. They I think had just come out on their own initiative to look at the area. I informed them we had found the body and they asked me to take them back to indicate where it was.

MR CHAPMAN: No, because this was only 2 or 3 minutes after I had made the phone call.

MR CHAPMAN: Because they showed me their Thames Valley Police identification.

MR CHAPMAN: Only one of them was DC Coe.

MR CHAPMAN: Yes. We walked back up the hill with the three of them and then they decided as they got a bit closer to the edge of the wood that I needed only to take one of the officers in, so I took DC Coe in to show him where the body was.

MR CHAPMAN: I was wearing my standard search kit, walking boots, outdoor trousers, our uniform polo shirts.

MR CHAPMAN: All they did was take a copy of the soles of my boots.

MR CHAPMAN: Once we had shown them where the body was, we returned to the car. More police officers had arrived there. We waited around a while until we were released from the scene, where we went back with one of the police officers to Abingdon police station where we made our statements.

MR CHAPMAN: It was mid afternoon by the time we had finished there. I actually had a day off as I was going away to cub camp for the weekend.

MR CHAPMAN: No, I do not.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: My name is Dean Andrew Franklin.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I am a police constable with the police support team, Thames Valley Police.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: We are based at the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I was called on duty from my home address.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: 06.15 hours.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I live in Windsor.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: To Abingdon police station.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Just over an hour.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I met with my sergeant, Paul Woods, who took us into a briefing; and there was several other officers there.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I could not tell you exactly.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: 8 to 10.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The nature of the briefing was initially a missing person search, to look for Dr David Kelly.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes, we were given a photograph with his details on it, what he was supposed to be wearing, and then Sergeant Woods and I discussed the search parameters and whereabouts we would start the search.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: With all missing person inquiries we look, initially, to beauty spots, areas that are frequented by the missing person, and that is where we would start our search.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I was passed that information by Sergeant Woods.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The search would begin at Harrowdown Hill, which was apparently an area frequented by Dr Kelly on his regular walking route.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: We were actually at the police station. I was just deploying my team --

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I was given a search team leader, which is PC Sawyer, and 6 other officers, when we received a call that a body had been found at Harrowdown Hill.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I believe it was only the two volunteers out searching at that time. The parameters for our search and the logistics of calling our teams in does take a bit of time. So PC Sawyer and I were going to be the first team out on the ground.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: PC Sawyer and I attended Harrowdown Hill and went to the scene. We were unsure initially whereabouts we were going, but we passed Paul from the South East Berks Volunteers and he directed us to two uniformed police officers and DC Coe.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: They are SEBEVs. South East Berks Volunteers. They are an organisation we use regularly for missing person searches.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: To help us. They are a highly professional and motivated organisation.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: He was at the scene. 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.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: DC Coe was until I turned up and then I took charge of the scene.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: DC Coe took us into the woods, PC Sawyer and myself, to the area where the body was.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: We walked between 50 and 70 metres into the wood up a slight gradient, and in a clearing at the base of a tree was the body of a white male.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I believe he had a blue jacket on, a white coloured shirt and blue denim jeans.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: He was lying on his back with his right hand to his side and his left hand was sort of inverted with the palm facing down (Indicates), facing up on his back.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: There was a fair amount of blood to the left wrist area and on the left hand, and a fair amount of blood sort of puddled around.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: On the ground, yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: If I may refer to my notes?

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The wrist watch was lying away from the body, next to a knife. The wrist watch was just to the left of the left arm, with the knife next to it, and also there was an open bottle of water at the scene.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes, the wrist watch was off the wrist.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: A bottle of, yes, mineral water, a plastic bottle.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: A small one.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The blade was open. It was some sort of lock knife. I cannot be that precise. I believe it had a curved -- slight curve to the blade. The blade was maybe 3 to 4 inches long.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Blood.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: We had two paramedics who were following closely behind us, but my initial thought was the body we had found was that of a dead man.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I believed it was Dr David Kelly.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: From the descriptions and the photograph we had.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The paramedics came to the scene to pronounce life extinct, which they did.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes, we did.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No, the shirt was done up when we got there. My colleague -- if I may explain. We take photographs of these sort of scenes all the time as a matter of course because we knew the paramedics would be disturbing the clothing and possibly disturbing the scene.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: PC Sawyer.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I believe PC Sawyer supplied them, yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Absolutely, yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The shirt was buttoned up. I believe PC Sawyer took photographs during and after the procedure the paramedics go through.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The shirt was unbuttoned, they placed four sticky pads, I believe it is four, on to the body, the chest, and attached it to a medical machine -- sorry, I have no idea what it is. And they pronounced life extinct at 10.07 hours that morning.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Less than two minutes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: We all left the scene. We left the wooded area to a natural break in the woods, a path which is where PC Sawyer and I went. I believe the two paramedics left the scene all together. I am not 100 per cent sure of at because PC Sawyer and I went back in.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: To establish what we call a common approach path and to mark it off where the area we had walked in.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: A common approach path would be, in this instance, a taped area. We taped it off either side so any person visiting the scene, the only place they would walk would be up the common approach path.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Sterility of the scene and to preserve any evidence that may be either side.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The common approach path was established and we then taped off the area around the body, again for the same reasons. We then left the scene and went back down to collect our vehicle -- we had walked about three quarters of a mile up to the scene -- to take our vehicle back up to await senior CID officers and scenes of crime.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: We were asked by the senior scenes of crime officer to search the common approach path; PC Sawyer and myself were.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: A full search would involve hands and knees going through every piece of undergrowth and twig. I stated at the time that perhaps that was not prudent because there were only two of us, so we did a check rather than a full search of a common approach path. This would be for any obvious dropped articles.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Which area, sir?

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Not initially. You mean either side of the common approach path?

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: It was searched. At 12.50 hours the same day I had a request from DCI Young to fingertip search the common approach path and either side. I decided as a police search adviser to do 10 metres either side of the common approach path at that time.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: At 12.50 hours, yes. Not initially. The initial check was done by PC Sawyer and I.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes. A full search team come in to do that.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: We were dressed forensically, white paper suits, hoods up, masks, gloves, rubber gloves, and covering for our feet.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No, we were dressed in summer search kit: black polo shirt, black trousers and our work boots.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: In the summer search uniform. We had no forensic kit with us at the time.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I actually, as police search adviser, do not do the search; that was run by PC Sawyer.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Some of the time. As police search adviser I have to liaise with the senior officers about the policies for the search and what we hope to get out of it, so I was backwards and forwards.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: We have to speak to the DCI initially and he wanted us to look for -- if again I may refer to my notes -- medicine or pill bottles, pills, pill foils or any receptacle or bag that may contain medicines.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes. The police search teams I work with would pick up anything that would be dropped by a human or out of the ordinary. Those are the items that were just specified to us, but as a search team we tend to look for anything that should not be there.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The common approach path was about 70 metres long. We searched 10 metres either side. Then we had a request to search 10 metres around the glade, if you like, the opening in the woodland where the body was.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Nothing.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No, there was no sign of an obvious struggle.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The search of the common approach path and the area 10 metres around the top of the body was concluded at 16.45 hours that day, but then we were given another task by the detective chief inspector.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: The task was once the body had been removed for us to fingertip search the area inside the tape where the body was.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: I changed search teams. PC Sawyer and I remained on site, as police search adviser and team leader, but I changed the search teams over and a new search team came in, again dressed forensically, to do that.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: They started at 19.24 hours and finished at 19.45 hours.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Nothing.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: No.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: That would have been retrieved by the scenes of crime officers. The actual scene where the body was was dealt with by them first, hence the reason we had to wait until nearly 7.30 in the evening to search the site. They would have retrieved the knife, the wrist watch and searched the body. That is not down to me and my team.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes, I do not know about the bottle of tablets.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Not with this initial part, sir, no.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Are we talking initially, my Lord?

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Initially it was just PC Sawyer and myself that went into the scene, but, yes, the whole search team would come up to a rendezvous point and be deployed by me from there.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: PC Sawyer and I left the scene and we returned with the vehicle minutes later. The search team did not attend until ...(Pause) About half past 12, I believe sir. The search itself did not start until 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE DEAN FRANKLIN: My Lord, thank you.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Jonathan Martyn Sawyer.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I am a police constable with the Thames Valley Police, stationed on the police search team the same as PC Franklin.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: That would be from the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I am a qualified EOD searcher, which is explosive ordnance searcher. We have to be licensed by the Home Office and we retrain on a periodic basis. We also train to search major crime scenes, murder scenes and any major event. We search events like Royal Ascot, which we call a defensive search, to make sure there are no explosive devices left. We also do offensive searches or crime scene searches, as the Dr David Kelly search.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I am a search team leader, which means I have done a further course which enables me to actually run a search. Police Constable Franklin, being the police search adviser, will liaise with the senior investigating officer. They will decide on the parameters of the search, what they want searched. It is then turned over to me to organise the logistics of it, to plan the search, do the cordons, to set the searchers going and supervise them while they are searching.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I was called out, I believe, about 6 o'clock in the morning to attend Abingdon police station for 8, where I was informed by PC Franklin we had a high risk missing person. We had a missing person who was identified to me as Dr Kelly.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: "High risk" means that there is a possibility that because of the length of time they have been missing there is a possibility that he might have done himself harm.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Then we are in the briefing that Police Constable Franklin has already described. We are just about to leave to perform our first searches, which would have been in the village and the surrounding areas of the route he was thought to have taken, when information came in that a body had been found. I then left with Police Constable Franklin to attend the scene.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: It would have been about 9 o'clock, I believe.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: We had three other officers in the back who we took from the search team to act as the cordons, because obviously we do not want members of the public or members of the press approaching the scene until it has been obviously searched and declared sterile.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: We then went to the track that leads up to Harrowdown Hill, I do not know the name of the track, but when we arrived we saw a vehicle parked which belonged to Louise. We started walking up the track. We also had with us two paramedics who had arrived, which we took up with us to make sure that the person we were going to see did not require any medical assistance.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: They had arrived more or less at the same time we did. So the five of us went up because we were with Sergeant Alan Dadd as well.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Stopped the cars -- I believe it at is the top, I have not seen the map but I believe it is at the top of Common Lane. Then we turned left and right up to the track which leads up to Harrowdown Hill.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: We met Paul from SEBEV walking down the hill.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: He told us basically the body was further up in the woods. We continued walking up the hill, where I saw DC Coe and two uniformed officers. I said, you know: whereabouts is the body? He pointed the path he had taken. I asked him if he had approached the body. He said he had. I asked him to point out where he had entered the woods and PC Franklin and myself entered the woods at the same point, taking with us a dozen or 15 aluminium poles we use when we are moving towards a scene to establish a common approach path.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: They remained down on the path.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: The three officers -- DC Coe and the two uniformed officers -- stayed on the path which leads through the woods. We branched off to the left about 50 or 70 metres up into the woods, where the body was.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Just the four of us went up there.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: No, no. As we walked through the woods we were leaving our aluminium poles, which have a fluorescent marker on the top, so we could establish the route we had taken into the woods. As we crested the slight rise, I saw the body lying at the base of a tree. I then said to PC Franklin and the paramedics to stop while I got my digital camera because I wanted to take a record of the scene before it was -- before we actually approached it at all. So I took a number of pictures as we approached the body, and of the body and the surrounding area; and then the paramedics asked if they could do their job, to which we said: yes. They tried to -- they used the paddles of the electrocardiogram machine to try to see if there was a sign of life through Dr Kelly's shirt. They were unable to do so and said: could they undo the shirt? I said: yes. I asked them to wait for a second. I took another two more reference pictures. They then undid the shirt, put the electrodes on and got a graph from the machine which showed there were no signs of life. I then -- they disconnected their equipment from the machine, leaving the electrodes in place; I asked them to do that. I then took a further reference shot to show the electrodes in place.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Lying on its back with its head at the base of a tree, a large tree. The head was tilted to the left. The right arm was by the side. The left arm was palm down. There was a large amount of blood on the back of the left arm. There was a watch and a curved knife by that wrist.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: It was open. I have seen gardening pruning knives which look identical. I would have called it a pruning knife.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I did, by Dr Kelly's head. There was an open bottle of Evian, 500 ml or 300 ml bottle, with the cap by the side of it, by his head.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: It was leaning slightly. It had been propped but it was upright. There was still some water in it.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I could not see any actual injuries because the injuries, I believe, were hidden by the wrist being turned down. But there was a large amount of blood there, and also from the mouth, the corner of -- the right-hand corner of the mouth to the ear there was a dark stain where I took it that Dr Kelly had vomited and it had run down the side of his face.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: His jeans -- he was wearing jeans, they were pulled up slightly, exposing the lower half of his leg or his ankle. It looked as if he had slid down and his trousers had ridden up. I believe on the right-hand knee there was a patch of what I took to be blood, but I do not know what it was, but it had the appearance of blood.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: No, only the blood from his wrist.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes. On the way back -- once we had finished with the body, once the paramedics had finished, we went back down the common approach path to the path where DC Coe and the two uniformed officers were. We then walked, leaving them there to guard the scene so nobody else could approach it, we then walked back to the truck, our Land Rover, and drove that up where we got some more metal poles. We extended the common approach path from one pole to two poles to about a 2 foot 6 gap, so people could walk up and down. We then had a quick look on that path, a search, just to check there were no major items there. And then we waited for the senior investigating officer to arrive and liaise with Police Constable Franklin.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: DCI Young.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes. It was decided a search of the woods 10 metres either side of the body, on the approach up the hill to the body, would be carried out. I was tasked by Police Constable Franklin to organise that. I had a number of searchers at my disposal. Because of my number of searchers I decided to split it into three 5 metre wide approaches up to the body.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes. The first search would include the common approach path. So my team of -- if I may refer to my notes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I had a team of seven searchers initially, so I put those into a 5 metre grid pattern which works up towards the body, and that would include the common approach path. So the first sweep, the first 5 metre search included the fingertip search of the common approach path.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: That was carried out at -- sorry, we have an awful lot of paperwork when we are doing this job. It was started at 13.08 that first sweep.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Right. My plan shows there were six zones eventually which we searched. The first zone, zone 1, was to the right-hand side of the common approach path to include the common approach path. The second zone was 5 metres beyond that, which took us up to level with the area that we had taped off surrounding the body. Zone 3 was the zone to the left of the common approach path. Zone 4, 5 metres further on from that. Zone 5 was the 10 metre radius round the back of the area where the body had been found, which was really dense brambles and overgrown trees. And zone 6 was the area where the body itself had been lying.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Up the common approach path to where the -- the common approach path was the easiest route in, and either side of that the undergrowth was reasonably light. But as you moved away each side, left and right, the undergrowth became extremely heavy. Zone 5, which went round the back of the scene, was almost impenetrable and the searchers had a really hard job getting through the brambles and the undergrowth to check the ground.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: He had moved up through the woods to the last area, where there was clear access. If I was walking into those woods myself I would have walked up as far as he had before deciding it was impossible to go any further, because there were footpaths apparently which led through that but they were so overgrown nobody had been through them for a number of months.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: You would struggle, really struggle, yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Estimate between 50 and 70 metres.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: The final search finished at 19.45. We had to wait until Dr Kelly's body was removed before we could search zone 6, which is where the body had been lying.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes, I team led the team searches. When you are a team leader and you are assigned to this, you see it all the way through from beginning to end.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes, I collected all the suits from both search teams. As PC Franklin has said, halfway through or towards the end the search teams were changed through fatigue, and all the teams' suits and all the gloves were collected and produced as an exhibit.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Yes, I was. I returned to duty the following day again to work with PC Franklin as he wanted me to team lead a search of Dr Kelly's house.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: Whenever we search a premise the first thing we do is walk through with the search adviser and we, again, just check the parameters of the search. The search was to include the house, any out-buildings, garages, cars and the grounds, which were extensive in this particular case. The house itself is a very large house.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: The grounds there was nothing found.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: The house itself there were a number of exhibits. Do you want me to go through them all?

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: No. Basically there were documents that were taken away. I believe there was a photograph found in his study which has envisaged a little interest, but when I am team leading the search, the officers who find the exhibits will take them straight to the exhibits officer, who books them in to the exhibits. They then tell me so I can log them in my records, but I am not looking over their shoulder the whole time although I do travel round and supervise.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: The search began at 11.05.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: It finished at 20.50, 10 to 9 that evening. The search of the study was concluded, and that was the last place to be finished.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: No, nothing. Normally when we search wooded areas there is a fair amount of detritus, crisp packets, bottles, cans, cigarette ends. This area itself was remarkable for its complete lack of human interference.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: No.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I would not have expected to find any footprints in that area because of the undergrowth itself. There was not a lot of bare earth for footprints to be recorded on; and when I first saw Dr Kelly I was very aware of the serious nature of the search and I was looking for signs of perhaps a struggle; but all the vegetation that was surrounding Dr Kelly's body was standing upright and there were no signs of any form of struggle at all.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: I can think of nothing else which will help the Inquiry.

POLICE CONSTABLE SAWYER: My Lord.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Yes, my name is Geoffrey Hugh Webb.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I am a Detective Sergeant of the Thames Valley Police currently stationed at Didcot.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: No, I was not.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I was called in to work on that day --

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: That is right -- at 4 am in the morning; and I was tasked, at that time, to go and meet Mrs Kelly and to chat with her and basically to debrief her on the circumstances of Dr Kelly's disappearance.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I was called in by my detective inspector at that time.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Quarter to 5.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: At Abingdon police station.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: For approximately an hour and a quarter, and then I went to Southmore.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I was briefed on what had gone on previously.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: By various people, including a uniformed sergeant who had been -- who had spent the night with the Kelly family and who had originally taken the report of Dr Kelly's disappearance.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: His name was Sergeant Simon Morris.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: He returned to Abingdon police station and briefed those present of what had gone on during the night.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: As I understand it, they had done some searching of the area, as much as they could possibly do in the dark.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Uniformed police officers.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I could not say at the moment.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I understand the helicopter had been used in an attempt to find any sort of zones of heat, I believe they call that.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: They were all negative.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Who had been called in?

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I should imagine about 10 of us.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Basically that Dr Kelly had left his home the previous afternoon and had not been seen; the fact that the family had made some attempt to try to find him themselves but, again, this had proved fruitless and that they had called the police, I believe slightly prior to midnight the evening before.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Whether he took the call or not is a different matter, but he certainly went to the Kellys' home. I do not know whether he actually took the call; I would imagine he did not.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Not specifically, no. He basically gave us the background in relation -- or the background prior to Dr Kelly's disappearance, what he had done during the day.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I then went back to Dr Kelly's home.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: 7.15 in the morning; and I sat there then and I spoke at length with Mrs Kelly and the two daughters, Rachel and Sian.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Really to see if any clue could be attained as to (1) why Dr Kelly should absent himself in such circumstances; and (2) where he would go having absented himself.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: To be honest, not really, no. I mean, the Kelly family were very upbeat at that time. They were very hopeful that no harm had come to Dr Kelly. In fact, they genuinely believed I think that perhaps he had become ill somewhere.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I was joined by WPC Karen Roberts, yes, slightly later that same morning.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: She was going to take on the role of being a family liaison officer and really to look after the Kelly family, you know, during the following inquiry.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I left the house at about 8 am to return to Abingdon police station, at that time to tell -- it was Assistant Chief Constable Page at that particular time, what the result of my inquiries were. I mean Dr Kelly's mood, the exact circumstances of his disappearance et cetera.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I could not say sir, I do not know.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I got back to Abingdon I suppose about 8.30, immediately spoke to him for about 15 or 20 minutes, until really the news came in that a body had been found.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I was then tasked to go back to the Kelly family and to give them the news that it would seem that Dr Kelly had been found and that he was dead.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I remained there then for the majority of the day.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Whilst I was there, I carried out a very cursory search of Dr Kelly's study.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I did and I took possession of certain items, yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: May I refer to my note?

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: The search that I carried out, as I said, was a very cursory search and really only encompassed things that were within view. And the first thing that I looked through was Dr Kelly's briefcase, which was closed. On opening it I found firstly a letter dated 9th July 2003 addressed to Dr Kelly from a Richard Hatfield headed "Discussions with the media".

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: No, that letter was in an envelope which was sealed, and I opened it.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I was, sir, yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: That would appear to be the same document, yes, sir.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: That was in a sealed envelope addressed to Dr Kelly.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I seem to recall it being a handwritten envelope, but I cannot swear to that.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I did. There was a letter dated 10th July 2003 addressed to Dr Kelly from someone called Steve Priestley.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Yes, that is the document that I saw.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: No, that was just open.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Not for the letter from Stephen Priestley, no.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: A handwritten note entitled "Gabriel's concerns."

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: That is correct, yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: An e-mail message dated 14th July 2003 attached to several papers entitled "The House of Commons Defence Committee oral evidence sessions. Notes for guidance".

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I did. I then checked Dr Kelly's desk, where his computer had been installed, and the first thing I notice were a number of business cards which had apparently originated from journalists.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: A year 2003 diary.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Yes. I then also took a Sainsbury's notebook which contained handwritten notes, together with four loose sheets of A4 paper also containing handwritten notes. On briefly scanning that notebook, the last page seemed to contain a list of journalists.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Yes, there were Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs documentation concerning Dr Kelly's involvement with journalists.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I did, yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: In his office he had a low coffee table; and on that there was a copy of a letter dated 30th June 2003 from Dr Kelly to Dr Bryan Wells, Director of Proliferation and Arms Control Secretariat, headed "Andrew Gilligan and his single anonymous source".

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: That is the document, sir, yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: That is correct, yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: There were other copies of this letter, if I recall correctly, but that one did have "Bryan" written on it.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I believe so, yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: There was also Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs documentation concerning Dr Kelly's involvement with journalists, including a transcript of the Foreign Affairs Committee examination of Andrew Gilligan.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I could not say. It was printed out certainly. Whether it came from a web page I would not know.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: There was a purple file containing a signed copy of a letter mentioned at (1) above. I should clarify there of course that the original letter was not signed, but the one in the file was; there was a press statement, handwritten notes in pencil and other documentation concerning Dr Kelly's appearance before the Foreign Affairs Committee.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: A number of booklets, one entitled "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction", "The Decision To Go To War In Iraq, Volumes 1 and 2" and another booklet entitled "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction".

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I took possession of all those items, yes.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: I subsequently placed them in the property holding store at Abingdon police station and then subsequently got them back and handed them on to Detective Constable Boshell who was acting as exhibit officer for the investigation into Dr Kelly's unexplained death at that time.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: On that day I left at 1520, that is 20 past 3 in the afternoon, although I was required to return for two brief visits at 11 minutes past 4 and 3 minutes to 5.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: The first visit I am not sure of, but the second visit was we had been asked to return because the MoD welfare officer wished to visit Mrs Kelly to inform her that she was to receive a letter that evening which was to be delivered by courier.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: None at all, sir.

DETECTIVE SERGEANT WEBB: Not that I can think of.