Vomitus on the body and on the ground (1)

There was evidence of vomiting at the scene ... on Dr Kelly's face, his clothing and on the ground.  This is what was said and written:

Ambulanceman Dave Bartlett (at the Inquiry)

Q. What about the face? Did you notice anything about the face?
A. Yes, going from the corners of the mouth were two stains, one slightly longer than the other.
Q. Where did the stains go to from the mouth?
A. Towards the bottom of the ears. 

PC Sawyer (at the Inquiry)

Q. What injuries did you see on the body itself?
A. 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. 

Dr Hunt (at the Inquiry)

Q. Did you notice anything about the face?
A. His face appeared, firstly, rather pale but there was also what looked like vomit running from the right corner of the mouth and also from the left corner of the mouth and streaking the face. 

Q. What would that appear to indicate?

A. It suggested that he had tried to vomit whilst he was lying on his back and it had trickled down. 

Q. Was there any vomit found on the scene itself?

A. Yes, there was some vomit. There was some vomit staining over the left shoulder of the jacket and also on the ground in the region of his left shoulder.  

Dr Hunt (in his report)

• There was a band of what appeared to be vomitus running from the right corner of the mouth, slightly upwards over the right earlobe tip and then onto the right mastoid area.  This appeared to have relatively uniform and parallel sides.  Such material was noted around the mouth over both upper and lower lips.  Vomitus could also be seen running from the left corner of the mouth and there was a possible patch of vomit staining in proximity to the left shoulder on the ground.  There was some vomit staining on the back of the left shoulder area of the waxed jacket and also on the outer aspect of the upper sleeve on that side of the jacket.   

Conclusions 
12. Given the finding of blister packs of co-proxamol tablets within the coat pocket and the vomitus around the mouth and floor, it is an entirely reasonable supposition that he may have consumed a quantity of these tablets either on the way to or at the scene itself.

Mr Green (in his report)

Areas of possible vomit-like staining were observed on both sides of deceased's face coming from the mouth, on the jacket (NCH.17) and on the ground partially covered by the cap (AMH.6).
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An area of whitish vomit-like staining was observed on the upper back [of the Barbour jacket] but this was not analysed further.

My thoughts

1. Although tests weren't carried out on the presumed vomitus I don't have any reason to think that it wasn't Dr Kelly's vomit that was observed.
2. Both Dave Bartlett and PC Sawyer observe the vomit on the face, this perhaps more obvious than the vomitus on the jacket and ground.
3. The evidence of vomit streaking going towards the ears is critical ... from that it has been deduced that Dr Kelly vomited whilst lying down.  This needs to be seen in the context of Dr Kelly's body being discovered with his head and shoulders slumped against a tree, of which more later.  It has been suggested, very sensibly in my opinion, that one reason to move the body to a lying down position could be the realisation that the vomit streaks wouldn't match the partially sitting up position of the body.
4. Thanks to the eventual publication of Mr Green's report we now know that the vomitus on the ground was partially covered by the Barbour cap.  The mystery relating to the removal of the cap, and the blood on it, remains.