29 Aug 2010

HALLIGEN GETS TOP EXTRADITION LAWYERS ON LEGAL AID

 was just wondering, did Kate always have those dilated pupils and extra thick lips that she was sporting on Spanish TV just after being made an Arguida, well no I do not think she did/does.  The dilated pupil look comes easy with a bottle of eye drops, and well the thick lips that takes an injection I think.  Pretty calculating really.

Maddie McCann investigator to get legal aid in battle against U.S. fraud charges


By Christopher Leake and Mark Hollingsworth

Last updated at 12:04 PM on 29th August 2010

 Identity card of private detective Kevin Halligen

A private detective whose firm was paid up to £500,000 from publicly donated funds to find Madeleine McCann is to get tens of thousands of pounds in legal aid to fight extradition to the US for fraud charges.

Kevin Halligen, 50, told Kate and Gerry McCann he could find their daughter but allegedly spent the cash on a lifestyle of first-class flights, chauffeured cars, nightclubs and luxury hotels and goods.

In a separate alleged scam he was arrested last November at the £700-a-night Old Bank Hotel in Oxford.

US authorities issued an extradition warrant accusing Halligen of defrauding a law firm of £1.3 million by ­claiming he could help free two men jailed in war-torn Africa. It is claimed he instead spent the money on a mansion.

A document filed in the District Court of Columbia claims he took money, saying his firm could help secure the release of two executives from the multi­national company Trafigura jailed in Ivory Coast in 2007 for allegedly dumping toxic waste.

He is said to have suggested a rescue operation to fly in South African mercenaries, but it was cancelled. The duo were freed a few months later after a reported £120 million payment.

Halligen, who claimed to have worked for MI5 and the CIA, linked up with the McCanns a year after the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine on a family holiday at Praia da Luz, Portugal.

He boasted of ‘contacts’ in Washington who could provide satellite imagery to help the search. Oakley International, a company run by Halligen, was hired by the fund set up by Madeleine’s parents, but was dropped after six months due to claims of too little progress and too much spending.

Fees: Halligen, who claimed to have worked for MI5 and the CIA, linked up with the McCanns a year after the 2007 disappearance of their daughter

Now British taxpayers are to pay for top-flight lawyers to fight Dublin-born Halligen’s extradition. His team includes a leading extradition barrister whose fees are thought to be at least £2,000 a day.

Additional fees for renowned London fraud solicitors Janes will boost costs even further.

The award of legal aid to ­Halligen, remanded at a London jail since arrest, was confirmed by Westminster magistrates this month. His next extradition hearing is on Wednesday.

Last night a spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann would not comment on the case.

A spokeswoman for the Legal Services Commission said last night: ‘The decision on whether legal aid is required is made by the court.’

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: ‘We’ve announced the start of a fundamental look at the legal aid system.’





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307149/Maddie-McCann-hunt-fraudster-legal-aid.html#ixzz0y078PS1P



20 Aug 2010

WHAT ABOUT THOSE SECURITY BLINDS ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE PATIO KATE AND GERRY?

Here the police are clearly asking this witness who had so recently stayed in the apt some very pertinent questions to the investigation and the claims of Kate and Gerry McCann. 

The security to that particular apartment was poor, the exterior light did not even work.  They wanted the shutter that went over the outside of the patio doors to the rear fixed immediately because they could see that would be a serious security issue, and it was!   In their initial statements Kate claims the patio door at the rear was left open to facilitate checking of the children, she makes no mention of what happened about the security blind on the outside of those doors.  She makes no mention of the children being able to fall ten feet or so down into the garden below if they had exited those doors and walked out onto the patio.   Madeleine was nearly four, the twins were two years and three months, in my experience all of these children would have been able to get out of their cots/beds and even the apartment, if what the McCanns claim is actually true.  There is no handle on the exterior of the patio door.  It would have to have been left ajar to be able to open it from the outside as Mat and Gerry demonstrated on the Channel 4 documentary, then just grabbing and sliding it further back to open sufficient to walk through.  It is clearly not meant to be used as an exterior entrance to the apartment, security blinds are provided.  Did the McCanns feel leaving their children was so important they could just forget their security in this way?  In his initial statement, Gerry McCann claims they both checked the children by going around to the front of the apartment, using their front door key.  The normal way to enter the apartment by the intended secure and locked door.  But in his further grilling, 6 days later on 10 May, he claims he was quite mistaken about that.  He actually claims that he does not remember if he locked the front door and that he was wrong, he and Kate did not use the front door as he had previously claimed, the very next day after Maddie's disappearance, oh no, now he decides they used the rear patio door as the more cunning Kate had originally stated.    Would Gerry not have been absolutely certain which door they used, the very next day, and would he not have been wanting to make sure he gave the police very accurate information to assist them in working out how anyone could have gotten into the apartment and abducted Madeleine as they so adamantly claimed? 

Do the McCanns seriously expect us to believe they just ignored the security shutter on the rear patio door and left it up and the patio door open every night so they could check their kids?   Why was Kate telling Mr Woolfall that Maddie likely just wandered off but then denying it to the police and in her first interview with Jane Hill?  When anyone looks at these facts alone, how could they seriously believe the McCanns to be innocent in the disappearance of Madeleine.  The contradictory and astounding lies and admitted serious negligence this couple were telling the police from the very outset? 

The scent of blood was clearly noted by the dogs in apartment 5a.  The police are here wanting to see if there is another source for that blood smell, Ms Hughes says her partner may have cut himself shaving but she does not remember this.  In his rogatory, Martin Grime indicates that Keela purely locates blood, Eddie will locate corpses and as part of that process may also smell human blood.  It is a myth to just keep on insisting he smelt dead body, he may have done, but it is just as likely he smelt what Keela could smell, blood, particularly given he was mainly indicated in the exact same spot as Keela and where traces of blood were indeed found but which did not provide a good match to Madeleine's.  I remain upset that ghoulish people continue to deny this child her human rights to be considered a missing person until such time as there is compelling evidence of her death.  At this time, so far as the information within the public domain is concerned, there is no such compelling evidence of her death in that apartment.  I remain convinced that it is wholly wrong to just right this child off as dead when there is the slightest chance she may still be alive.  It is simply not clear what the McCanns did with her, other than they were involved in lying about her disappearance and there is only one reason they would do that. 

The police then go on to address the issue of whether there were thieves operating in the area, i.e. anyone who on the offchance may have noted there was more on offer to steal from the McCanns apartment than mere electronic gadgets and cash.  She answers this very firmly in the negative and yet, the McCanns have pursued a merciless campaign of insisting the Algarve is dangerous for children, paedophiles in the area are likely to snatch your child.  This has clearly had a serious negative impact upon peoples livelihoods, from the humblest cleaner who would obviously need that job, thanks to Kate and Gerry, as we saw on film, they lost them.  Meanwhile they are not content with fleecing the public/the rich with donations of about £2M, oh no, they then embark on a sue fest to amass yet more cash because people have the nerve to suggest they were involved.  I am going to continue to do more than suggest, they were involved, but I would not be so foolish as to insist I know exactly what they did with her.  I may have evidence of their lies and obvious involvement, but disposing of her dead body? No way can anyone sensibly make this  claim.  If you look at the information that Leicester Police intend to keep confidential whilst they continue to investigate "those behind the disappearance of Madeleine McCann" it is clear they are by no means certain they are looking for a dead Madeleine.  They have statistics of "sightings", intelligence from various agencies, correspondence with the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.  This was a serious and organised crime against little Maddie, organised by her own parents. 

I hope that one day they reap the rewards of the wickedness they have demonstrated to all three of their little children, but most especially little Madeleine whose fate at their hands, we simply do not know, but must surely by now, fear the very worst. 

Viv x





5A OCCUPANT 29 APRIL 08



40 to 41 Witness statement of June Hughes (former holidayer in Apartment 5 A) 2008.04.29

05-CARTAS ROGATORIA 5 Pages 40 to 41

cr5_40



cr5_41



LEICESTERSHIRE POLICE SQUAD

WITNESS TESTIMONY OF JUNE HUGHES

Occupation: Surgical Assistant



This statement, consisting of three pages, each signed by me, is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have willfully states in it anything I know to be false or do not believe to be true.



Date: 29 April 2008

Signature:



I am the above referenced person and live at the address previously given to this police.



On the 14th of April of 2007 my partner Carlo A'AMROSIO and I were on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal. We have booked a reservation with Thomas Cook and were to stay in the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort.



Carlo and I travelled to the Glasgow airport directly to Faro.

When we arrived at the resort, we were given apartment 5A. There were still cleaning personnel in there when we arrived. They allowed us to enter. We checked and realized that we had not been given a key to the apartment and Carlo went to the reception to collect one.



I found the apartment very good. We arrived on Saturday and this night noticed that the blinds on the patio side door which gave way to the pool zone did not close. It appeared that someone had lifted them too much and the mechanism did not dislodge in order to shut them (page1). We reported this abnormality to the reception that same night. We reported this immediately because we found that the apartment could be at risk if it was not possible to close the door blinds. The apartment was also vulnerable for the fact that the entryway light (side of the street) was hanging and did not function. This made the entryway very dark. It was off from the street with a small parking zone between the street and the apartment.



Even though we communicated this issue of the blind, we did not expect them to rapidly address the issue. We were surprised when on Sunday morning a functionary came to fix the blind. The patio door blind was on the outside of the patio door. We used the principal entrance (next to the street) and would lock the patio door from the interior.



During our stay I do not remember having cut or hurt myself. It is possible that Carlo cut himself whilst shaving but I don't remember this.



Nothing was taken from our apartment and I did not notice anything suspect during our stay. I noticed that the gardeners would work on the garden close to the apartment 'pool-side 'three mornings (page 2) during our stay. The cleaning personnel would come very day.



I remember that the key to the apartment was a bit unusual. It was round and with cut segments. We noticed that the cleaning personnel knocked on the door once and would then enter in the apartment. In this sequence, we left the door always closed with the key in the lock. The next morning, the cleaning woman knocked on the door and entered normally independent of the door being locked with the key in the interior of the lock.



As far as I recall, the living woman sofa (to the right of the entry across the patio door) was slightly removed from the wall, around 60 cm.



We were not accompanied by children to Praia da Luz but noticed that the children seemed to have free access to the restaurant and were always very welcome. We would normally eat in different restaurants when we holidayed but would breakfast in the apartment and if I am not mistaken, lunched in our apartment.



We slept in the principal room where the blind was initially broken. We never took any food in the Tapas Bar. I do not know Gerry or Kate McCann and only heard of them after their daughter went missing. We returned on the 21st of April of 2007.



This statement is made by me and is truthful in accordance with my understanding.

13 Aug 2010

UPDATED CROSS PARTY CLAMOUR FOR DAVID KELLY INQUEST Experts call for David Kelly inquest

Diane Abbott, never a Tony Blair devotee heads up Labour rebellion against their former boss, perhaps Michael Howard sees it more as a good political move?   The only thing I could say is it seems a little hypocritical to wait so many years, did it need a change of government to start the ground swell of revolt against the Lord Hutton whitewash, Maybe!?
Michael Howard leads MPs' call for full inquest into the death of weapons inspector Dr David Kelly


By Simon Walters and Glen Owen

Last updated at 10:12 PM on 14th August 2010

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Demands: Michael Howard is leading A campaign to force an inquest into Dr David Kelly's death

Former Tory leader Michael Howard tonight put himself at the head of a powerful all-party campaign to force a full inquest into the death of Min­istry of Defence weapons expert Dr David Kelly.

Mr Howard, Conservative leader when the Hutton Report found Dr Kelly took his own life, said: ‘In view of the growing number of relevant questions that have arisen and cast doubt on the conclusions reached by Lord Hutton, I believe it would now be entirely appropriate for a full inquest to be held.

‘Recent evidence by the first police officer on the scene, together with new statements by doctors, raise serious questions which should be considered. This has been on my mind for quite a while and recent events have crystallised my view.’

Mr Howard, now a leading Tory peer, was backed by Labour leadership challenger Diane Abbott, two former Labour Defence Min­isters who served in Tony Blair’s Government and a number of senior Tory, Lib Dem and Labour MPs.

They spoke out amid signs that the Government is prepared to act in response to the growing demands to resolve questions over the circumstances of Dr Kelly’s death.

It emerged yesterday that Attorney General Dominic Grieve is ready to meet the group of senior doctors who last week claimed Dr Kelly could not have committed suicide in the way described in Lord Hutton’s report.

Mr Grieve has already indicated he is ready to ask the High Court to order a full inquest if he believes there is sufficient evidence to cast doubt on Lord Hutton’s verdict.

And Justice Minister Ken Clarke was yesterday urged by a Cabinet colleague to scrap Labour’s unprecedented 70-year embargo on releasing Dr Kelly’s medical records, including the results of the post-mortem examination.

‘If we are going to find out how Kelly died, the first requirement is to allow his medical details to be scrutinised,’ said the Cabinet Minister, who asked not to be named.

In tomorrow's Mail on Sunday, Dr Michael J. Powers QC, a doctor and barrister behind the latest demand by medical experts for a full inquiry, delivers a fresh challenge to Lord Hutton’s account of the way Dr Kelly is said to have slashed his wrists.

‘A fatal haemorrhage from a ­severed ulnar artery is so improb­able that more evidence was essential before such a conclusion could be reached,’ says Dr Powers.

Mystery: The death of Dr David Kelly in 2003 has been plagued by doubts over how it happened

Dr Kelly’s body was discovered in woods near his Oxfordshire home in July 2003, shortly after he was exposed as the source of a BBC news report questioning Tony Blair’s grounds for war in Iraq.

Unusually, no coroner’s inquest was held into his death. The only official verdict has come from the Hutton Inquiry, commissioned by Mr Blair, which concluded that Dr Kelly, 59, died from loss of blood after cutting his left wrist with a blunt gardening knife and taking an overdose of co-proxamol, a painkiller commonly used for arthritis.

Critics regarded the report as a ‘whitewash’, crippled by an assumption from the outset that suicide was the only possible conclusion – and a desire by the report’s author, Lord Hutton, to spare Dr Kelly’s family additional distress.

The Mail on Sunday has led the way in reporting experts’ doubts over the Hutton verdict. We revealed that a close female confidante of Dr Kelly believed it was impossible for him to have killed himself by slashing his wrist because his right cutting hand was too weak to slice into steak. The woman, Mai Pederson, has confirmed this to Mr Grieve.

Inquiry: Police officers outside the home of Dr David Kelly in 2003. No coroner's inquest was held into his death. The only official verdict has come from the Hutton Inquiry

We also disclosed last year that 13 doctors had mounted a legal challenge to the finding of suicide on the grounds that a cut to the ulnar artery, which is small and difficult to access, could not have caused death. Their 12-page dossier is also now in Mr Grieve’s hands.

And last week, the first interview with the policeman who found Dr Kelly’s body cast further doubt on the verdict that he died of blood loss. Detective Constable Graham Coe revealed he had not seen ‘much blood’ around the body. DC Coe, 63, also said police searched Dr Kelly’s home the day after his death for papers ‘of a sensitive nature’ about Iraq.

Significantly, the demands for a full inquest now command support from all sides in Parliament, not just those who opposed the war.

Mr Howard gave full support to the conflict, though later accused Mr Blair of lying over the reasons for it.

Labour leadership contender Miss Abbott said: ‘When so many doctors have expressed genuine concerns, I think it would be a good idea to have a full inquest so we can set this matter to rest once and for all.’

Lord Gilbert, a Defence Minister in the Blair Government, said: ‘If serious medical people are agitated about the cause of Dr Kelly’s death, I see no reason why there should not be an inquest to resolve these doubts.’

Probe: The body of Dr Kelly was found in woodland near his home. The Hutton report concluded he died from loss of blood after cutting his left wrist with a blunt gardening knife and taking an overdose of painkiller co-proxamol

Fellow former Labour Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle said: ‘Politicians who know nothing about medicine have no right to gainsay senior physicians who say the cause of death in the Hutton Report does not stack up. An inquest must be approved.’

Senior Labour MP Ann Clwyd, an ardent Labour advocate of the Iraq War, said: ‘If serious people with no political motive are not satisfied with the official account, it is fair enough to have an inquest. But we must take account of the family’s views.’

Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock, a member of the Commons Defence Committee, said: ‘Dr Kelly was treated appallingly by the last Government. His death was written off as suicide too hastily and the circumstances of his death were never fully investigated. If any criminal element was involved we need to know.’

Tory MP Adam Holloway, an Army captain in the Gulf War, said: ‘We need to establish the true cause of Dr Kelly’s death.’

However, there is likely to be opposition from Labour figures involved in the war and its aftermath. They include former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, a close Blair ally. It was he who chose Lord Hutton to investigate Dr Kelly’s death and who put the 70-year embargo on releasing his medical records.

A source close to Lord ­Falconer said: ‘The idea that a coroner’s inquest could be better than an inquiry led by someone as experienced and as distinguished as Lord Hutton is not plausible.’

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘The request for the release of Dr Kelly’s medical papers is currently under consideration.’





David would never have committed suicide in that spot

Conspiracy theory: Nikolai Tolstoy believes Dr Kelly was killed

A distinguished historian and neighbour of Dr David Kelly has added to the growing clamour for an inquest by declaring he does not believe Dr Kelly committed suicide.

Count Nikolai Tolstoy said last night that the scientist’s ‘considerate’ character meant he would never have chosen to die in a place where passers-by were likely to be shocked – particularly when he could easily have deployed more discreet and effective means of killing himself.

Tolstoy, who is an expert on Celtic mythology and the Second World War, lives in the Oxfordshire village of Southmoor where the scientist shared an old farmhouse with his wife, Janice Kelly. Dr Kelly died on nearby Harrowdown Hill, on a walking route that is widely used by locals.

‘I remember the night of his death very well,’ Tolstoy said last night. ‘There were helicopters flying overhead for hours after the body was found.

‘The general view in the village is that suicide is extremely unlikely. He used to drink in our local pub and he was a very friendly and considerate man.

‘I frequently walk past the spot where he died, and he would not have done something like that in a place where an old lady could have found him.

‘It just seems wholly implausible that he should have chosen to saw away at his wrist with a blunt knife when there were other means available to him at home, where his wife kept various drugs for her medical conditions.’

Tolstoy, who stood as a UKIP candidate against David Cameron at the last Election, believes that Dr Kelly died because he had annoyed Tony Blair’s Government.

The historian, who is a distant cousin of War And Peace author Leo Tolstoy, had his own battle with the Establishment in the Eighties when he was ordered to pay £1.5 million damages to Lord Aldington, after making claims in a pamphlet accusing the peer of complicity in war crimes.

Tolstoy’s defence against the libel action was seriously hampered when the Ministry of Defence removed vital papers from the Public Record Office which Tolstoy needed to fight his case – while Aldington found his access to war records unimpeded.

‘I was in a similar position when I was attacked by the Establishment and it didn’t make me feel that way [suicidal],’ Tolstoy added.

‘As Sherlock Holmes said, when you have eliminated the impossible, you are left with what happened.

‘Presumably the British Government was behind it all. I don’t believe the theory that Iraqi agents murdered him – how would they have the means and the opportunity to come into the country?

‘I wouldn’t put anything past the Government, as I know from personal experience. When the Establishment is threatened, it closes ranks.’





Dr Kelly was a brilliant man who did his best for his country. We owe it to him and ourselves to discover the true cause of his deathIn this powerfully argued article, doctor and barrister Dr Michael Powers QC explains why justice demands an inquest is held



Doubts: Dr Michael Powers QC says key questions were not asked about Dr Kelly

Since his untimely death in July 2003, questions have continued to be raised about the circumstances of Dr David Kelly’s death. Many wonder whether he really killed himself and speculate that he was murdered. His sudden death shocked the nation – how could it have happened?

As a specialist practitioner in law and medicine, I feel a responsibility to the two professions to air my doubts about a case that bridges both worlds.

Any question of suicide or murder has to follow the determin­ation of the cause of death. To do otherwise risks putting the cart before the horse. It would, for example, be scientifically and logically unsound to assume suicide and then to set about finding evidence to prove it.

Before asking whether a deceased himself or a third party put the ­bullet in the head, it is necessary to determine first that there was a hole in the head and secondly that the deceased died because of it.

For 1,000 years, coroners have been investigating sudden, violent and unnatural deaths. They have got good at it. Suicide used to be a crime and a finding of self-murder is an unhappy reflection on the victim and his family and friends.

That is why suicide has to be proved to the same high standard as murder. It has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased did the act which killed him with that intention in mind.



Puzzle: Many wonder whether Dr Kelly really killed himself. Below, how the Mail on Sunday reported on the story

The normal inquest process in the case of David Kelly was interrupted by the order of the Government. Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor at the time, exercised a rarely used power to require the Oxfordshire coroner to adjourn his investigation and to give that responsibility to Lord Hutton.

The coroner had the power to compel witnesses to attend and to give ­evidence on oath. The Government which took our country to war with Iraq chose not to give these considerable powers to Lord Hutton.

Although there were 24 days of evidence taken over two-and-a-half months, the whole of the medical evidence took no more than a half day. The evidence of the pathologist, toxicologist and forensic ­biologist can be read in 30 minutes. No one could say this was a detailed investigation into the death.

I was trained as a doctor and during my years in medical practice I often had to pass fine catheters into the radial artery in the wrist. This is where medics usually feel the pulse. It can even be seen pulsating in many people. Dr Kelly’s wrists were not slit. Neither radial artery was cut. This alone is a strange finding in someone who intends suicide by this method.

Deeper in the wrist on the side of the little finger lies the ulnar artery. It is not used for catheterisation because it is too small. Yet Lord Hutton, on the unchallenged evidence of a single pathologist, concluded that Dr Kelly bled to death from the severance of this single small artery in the left hand.

No courtroom drama would be complete without critical witnesses being challenged through the cross-examination process. Like all barristers, I received a rigorous training in advocacy and, because of its enormous importance, I take time from my practice to train barristers in this art. A skilful cross-examination is often the key to ascertaining the truth.

None of this happened in Lord Hutton’s inquiry and witnesses were simply led through prepared evidence. Reading the transcripts, far from providing any sense of satisfaction, leaves me with feelings of frustration. Opportunity after opportunity was lost to pursue answers until every avenue had been thoroughly explored and every ‘escape route’ closed.

At the very end of his evidence, Dr Nicholas Hunt, the pathologist who had conducted the post-mortem, was asked: ‘Is there anything else you would like to say concerning the circumstances leading to Dr Kelly’s death?’

Such a question gives the witness who is favourably disposed to the questioner an open opportunity to go further than his witness statement. It is NOT a question ever asked in cross-examination as it provides a free pass to an escape route.

Dr Hunt answered: ‘Nothing I could say as a pathologist, no.’ He is an experienced expert witness. What on earth did that answer mean? He was there to give evidence as a pathologist. He knew that. Everyone knew that. So why did he give that answer? It begged the question whether there was anything else he knew. Was he ­concerned about any other forensic or factual evidence? These questions were never asked.

Hutton focused on the so-called dodgy dossier and the conflict between the Government and the BBC which, at that time, was more in the public eye. Because it was taken for granted that Dr Kelly had killed himself, the medical evidence was insufficiently explored.



In the absence of any bleeding tendency from a clotting deficiency (and there was no evidence of this) fatal haemorrhage from a severed ulnar artery is so improbable that more evidence was essential before such a conclusion could be reached.

If you want to know how much beer has gone from a full pint glass, it is easy. You can either measure how much has been poured out or measure how much remains. To be confident, you would measure both. The same approach should have been adopted in this case.

As it was not, there is no evidence as to whether there was sufficient haemorrhage from the ulnar artery to cause death. The inquiry fell into the trap of the circular argument: Dr Kelly died, therefore he must have lost sufficient blood.

In my work as a barrister I meet many medics, but I have never met a single doctor who has disagreed with the proposition that it is extremely improbable that haemorrhage from a single, severed ulnar artery would ever be a primary cause of death.

Yet this extreme unlikelihood was never explored with Dr Hunt. Whatever the reason, this was a serious failure of the Hutton Inquiry. It has understandably led to a suspicion of cover-up. This could not have been the cause of death, the argument goes. If it were not the cause, then what did cause his death? Was it something Dr Kelly did to himself, intending to cause his own death, which has not yet been discovered? Was it part of some elaborate plan by others to end his life?

The only way to stop the many theories which abound is for there now to be a thorough and open investigation by way of a fresh inquest. Surely the Government realises that the way to foster conspiracy theories is to be secretive and to resist calls to disclose all the medical evidence. We should pay tribute to Dr Kelly. He was a brilliant man who did his best in the service of this country. He deserves our gratitude and respect. We owe it to him and ourselves to ensure the true cause of his death is ascertained.

* Dr Michael J. Powers QC is a barrister specialising in medical causation and a Fellow of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians to which he is an appointed





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303190/Michael-Howard-leads-MPs-Dr-David-Kelly-inquest.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0wcsCqkE1





If Tony Blair is really guilty of everything the British public, myself included, suspect him of, then it is about time we found out and the relatives of  Dr David Kelly see justice. 

Official cause of David Kelly's death is 'extremely unlikely', say group of legal and medical experts


, Friday 13 August 2010 09.23 BST Article history

An inquest into the death of David Kelly was suspended before the Hutton inquiry and not resumed afterwards. Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Images Europe



A group of prominent legal and medical experts today called for a full inquest into the death of the government scientist David Kelly in 2003.



An inquest was suspended by Lord Falconer, then lord chancellor, before the Hutton inquiry into the circumstances of the scientist's death. It was not resumed after Hutton's report in 2004 concluded that Kelly killed himself by cutting an artery in his wrist.



Nine experts including Michael Powers, a QC and former coroner, and Julian Blon, a professor of intensive care medicine, said in a letter to the Times that the official cause of death – haemorrhage from the severed artery – was "extremely unlikely".



"Insufficient blood would have been lost to threaten life," they said. "Absent a quantitative assessment of the blood lost and of the blood remaining in the great vessels, the conclusion that death occurred as a consequence of haemorrhage is unsafe."



Kelly's body was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, shortly after it was revealed that he was the source of a BBC report casting doubt on the government's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which could be fired within 45 minutes.



Lord Hutton concluded that "the principal cause of death was bleeding from incised wounds to his left wrist which Dr Kelly had inflicted on himself with the knife found beside his body".



In January, five doctors who made an application to the Oxford coroner to have the inquest reopened, were told that Hutton made a ruling in 2003 to keep medical reports and photographs closed for 70 years. Hutton responded by saying the documents could be revealed to doctors and that he had made the gagging order to spare Kelly's family "unnecessary distress".



Hopes for a new inquest have been raised by the change in government. Dominic Grieve, the attorney general, said in April, when he was shadow justice secretary, that the Tories would consider a new inquest into Kelly's death. He also called for a review of the government's decision not to release related medical records and postmortem documents.



Grieve is looking at the matter with the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP and a junior minister in the coalition government, supports resumption of the inquest. He resigned from the front bench while in opposition to write a book, The Strange Death of David Kelly, which argued that the scientist's life had been "deliberately taken by others".



The Hutton inquiry applied a less stringent test than would have been used in an inquest, where a coroner has to be sure "beyond reasonable doubt" that a person intended to kill themselves.

7 Aug 2010

MCCANNS ASK RELUCTANT HOME OFFICE FOR A REVIEW..... DEJA VOUS

McCanns meet May in Madeleine probe





Kate and Gerry McCann have held talks with Home Secretary Theresa May to discuss the search for their missing daughter Madeleine.



The couple used the meeting on Wednesday to appeal for extra help from the coalition Government to look for the little girl. It is more than three years since Madeleine disappeared from a holiday resort in southern Portugal.



Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, want a full independent review of the police investigation into what happened to their daughter.



They complained in February that they encountered "reluctance" when they asked the British authorities to re-examine all the information held by law enforcement agencies around the world.



Mr McCann said: "I think people are reluctant to undertake a review because there's been difficult, sensitive issues. But Madeleine's rights should be put first. She's missing, she's innocent and whoever's taken her is still out there, and that has to be of paramount importance."



A Home Office spokesman said: "The Home Secretary held a private meeting with Kate and Gerry McCann on Wednesday to discuss the case of their missing daughter Madeleine. The Government's primary concern in this matter is the wellbeing of Madeleine McCann and to ensure that everything feasible is being done to progress the search for her."



Madeleine was three when she went missing from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined with friends nearby.



Portuguese police launched a massive investigation with the support of British officers but the inquiry was formally shelved in July 2008 without reaching any firm conclusions about the child's fate.



Private detectives employed by the McCanns are continuing to investigate the case.



McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "I can confirm that Kate and Gerry met the Home Secretary on Wednesday to continue their discussions with the Government over what can be done to assist the search for Madeleine. As with all their private Governmental contacts, the details of the discussion with Theresa May will remain confidential."