Friday 11 May 2012

Mrs Kelly failed to mention these phone calls

Dr Kelly's colleague Wing Commander John Clark spoke to him shortly before 3 pm  on 17th July.  This call was evidently to Dr Kelly's home telephone and was to be the last time that John Clark made contact with him.

In his examination by Mr Knox on 27 August 2003 John Clark mentions two further phone calls that he made ... calls answered by Mrs Kelly:

MR KNOX: In the course of these conversations were you told  by anyone that any further contacts with journalists had to be checked with Dr Kelly? 
A. Yes, I was contacted by the Secretary of State's office and he brought up the subject of the article that had  been published on 13th July, written by Nick Rufford.   Now, Dr Kelly had made no reference to that meeting in his one-to-one meetings, and I was asked to check with Dr Kelly if that meeting had taken place and, if it had, then really it ought to be included in the response.
Q. Before we go on for a moment, when you say the Secretary of State's office contacted you, who was the individual  you spoke to?
A. It was his PS -- can I check my notes? 
Q. Was it a Mr Wilson?
A. No, it was Peter.
Q. Peter Watkins?
A. Peter Watkins. 
Q. What did you do?
A. Again I discussed it with James Harrison with  Bryan Wells and attempted to ring Dr Kelly.
Q. At what time did you attempt to ring Dr Kelly?
A. It was -- I have since been told by the police --  I thought it was close to 3 o'clock but it was about  3.20, and I was told by his wife who answered the telephone that Dr Kelly had gone for a walk at  3 o'clock.
Q. Can you recall what the last telephone conversation you actually had with Dr Kelly was before that attempt to get hold of him?
A. Yes, I had a call with him which was just before 3 o'clock. Again I thought it was earlier but we have been able to track that down from investigating my log of e-mails and the telephone log that the police were able to provide. So about 6 or 7 minutes before 3 o'clock was the last conversation. That was the one where we discussed Susan Watts and the business cards.
Q. When you say Susan Watts, i.e. appearing in the body of  the text?
A. Absolutely right. So that had been agreed.
Q. And after you had not been able to get hold of Dr Kelly, what did you do?
A. I was surprised that I could not get two-way with him  because he was always very proud of his ability to be contacted. He took his mobile phone everywhere. I do not mean to be light-hearted but an example of that was that one day I rang him up and I could hardly hear what
he was saying because he was on his lawnmower cutting his grass. But that is the sort of man he was; he was always contactable. So on this occasion when I rang him I asked his wife in the first instance when she said he went for a walk, did he have his mobile, and she did not
know. I rang and it was switched off and I was very surprised that it had been switched off.
Q. When you say it was switched off, did you get any message?
A. Yes, I got an electronic voice saying: the number you have rung is not reacting. Which is the normal one that one would associate if the telephone itself had been switched off.
Q. After you had not been able to get hold of Dr Kelly on the mobile then, did you try again?
A. I rang his wife because clearly I needed to get the staff work taken forward and I needed to speak to Dr Kelly. I spoke to her and said I had not been able to contact Dr Kelly on his mobile and I thought she might say something but she was quite matter of fact and
said, you know -- did not really record the fact.  I then said: could you ask Dr Kelly when he returns, could he give me a ring. That is how the message was left with his wife. 

According to John Clark then he had spoken to Mrs Kelly twice after Dr Kelly had apparently left for his walk.  Mrs Kelly fails to mention these later phone calls from Clark and Hutton also doesn't raise the subject during Mrs Kelly's examination.  This is Mrs Kelly responding to Mr Dingemans:
Q. And did he, in fact, go straight off for his walk?
A. Well, the phone rang a little bit later on and I assumed he had left so I suddenly realised I had not got a cordless phone and I thought it might be an important call for him, perhaps from the MoD. So I went downstairs to find the telephone in the dining room. By this time the ringing had stopped and I was aware of
David talking quietly on a phone. I said something
like: I thought you had gone out for a walk. He did not respond of course because he was talking on the phone.
Q. Where was he at this time?
A. In his study.
Q. Do you know what time this was?
A. Not exactly, no. Getting on for 3, I would think.
Q. Do you know who the caller was?
A. I assumed it was the MoD, I am not sure.
Q. And did Dr Kelly go out for his walk?
A. Well, the phone rang again at about 3.20, after which --  it was a call for me -- a return call for me, and I could not settle in bed so I got up at that stage and I was aware that definitely David had left by this time.

Why did she fail to mention John Clarks calls and why did Hutton ignore this omission?

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