http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3076801.stm


Body 'matches' Iraq expert

Police searching for the weapons expert suggested by the government as the
possible source for a BBC story on Iraq say the body they have found matches Dr
David Kelly's appearance.

The body was found at 0920 BST by a member of the police team searching for Dr Kelly in a wooded area at Harrowdown Hill, near Faringdon, Oxfordshire.

Government adviser Dr Kelly, 59, went missing from his home
in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfo rdshire, at about 1500 BST on
Thursday.

The body was found lying on the ground, a police
spokeswoman said.

She said items had been removed from Dr Kelly's house as
they would in any missing person's inquiry.

The body was found around five miles from Dr Kelly's home.

Attention

Earlier this week, Dr Kelly denied being the BBC's main source
for a story claiming Downing Street had "sexed up" a dossier
about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

He appeared before the Commons foreign affairs committee on
Tuesday.

MPs on the committee reacted with shock and disbelief at
news of Dr Kelly's disappearance.

His family had contacted the
police when he failed to return
home by 2345 BST on
Thursday.

Tony Blair, who is heading to
Japan after his speech to
Congress in Washington, has
been informed about the
discovery of the body.

Huge media attention has been
on Dr Kelly since the Ministry
of Defence said he had
admitted meeting Andrew
Gilligan, the BBC correspondent
behind the controversial Iraq
story.

Mr Gilligan said a source had
told him that the dossier on Iraq had been "sexed up" by
Downing Street.

The BBC correspondent has refused to name his source, but
the MoD said Dr Kelly had come forward to say it may have
been him.

Sensitive

Acting superintendent Dave Purnell, of Thames Valley Police,
speaking to reporters in Wantage, Oxfordshire, said: "We
haven't ruled anything out yet. Clearly there are people at the
scene now and there is no further information as to the body
that has been found apart from to say it is a male.

"This is clearly a sensitive inquiry at the moment. The family
of Dr David Kelly have been aware of what the police have
been doing in relation to the search for him."

Superintendent Purnell said the search for Dr Kell y continued
with the police helicopter and around 70 officers.

He said the official's family were aware that a body had been
found. A police family liaison officer is with them.

Harrowdown Hill, where the body is found, is an area popular
with walkers but "quite off the beaten track", he added.

Graham Atkins, landlord of the Waggon and Horses pub in
Southmoor, told BBC News Online: "Everybody at the pub
really sends their best to the family. It is shocking news."

Police say Dr Kelly is an avid wal ker and has good local
knowledge of the many footpaths surrounding his home.

His disappearance and failure to make contact with anyone
was described by his family as 'out of character'.

Initial searches of the house,
outbuildings and grounds of
the pr operty were completed
in the early hours of Friday.

Checks of local hospitals have
also shown no trace of Dr
Kelly.

Dr Kelly is 5ft 8ins, of slim build
and with grey receding hair and a white well-trimmed beard.

He has green/grey eyes and was last s een wearing an
off-white cotton shirt possibly striped, blue jeans, with a
brown leather belt and brown shoes.

Anyone who feels they may have information that can help in
tracing Dr Kelly should call 08458 505 505.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman sa id: "We are aware that
Dr David Kelly has gone missing and we are obviously
concerned."

The ministry said Dr Kelly had at no point been threatened
with suspension or dismissal for speaking to Mr Gilligan.

It was made clear to him that he had broken ci vil service rules
by having unauthorised contact with a journalist, but "that
was the end of it", said a spokesman.

Downing Street says it is "very concerned about news that
David Kelly has gone missing". A spokesman said thoughts
were with Dr Kelly's f amily.

Number 10 says "normal personnel procedures" were followed
after Dr Kelly volunteered that he might have been the source
of Mr Gilligan's report.

It was made clear to Dr Kelly
that his name was likely to
become public knowledge
because he was o ne of only a
small number of people it could
have been about, the
spokesman said.

After questioning Dr Kelly earlier
this week, the Commons foreign
affairs select committee said it
was "most unlikely" he was the
main source for the BBC story.

And they said Dr Kelly, who has worked as a weapons
inspector in Iraq, had been "poorly treated" by the
government - a charge strongly rejected by the MoD.

Committee chairman Donald Anderson told
the BBC his "heart went out" to Dr Kelly's
family as the search f or the official went on.

Another member of the
committee, Tory John Maples
said he was "speechless" after
hearing of the discovery of a
body.

"If it is (Dr Kelly), it is just awful. What can you say? Nothing," he
said.

"There must be more to this than we had thought. I do not know
what that means, I just think there is."

Tory MP Richard Ottaway, another committee member, said: "He
is not used to the media glare, he is not used to the intense
spotlight he has been put under."

The BBC has rejected Mr Anderson's claim that Mr Gilligan was an
"unreliable witness" who had changed his story about the Iraq
dossier claims when he met the committee in private on
Thursday. ›r