"Operation Mason" - thoughts

Following the discovery of the body, Thames Valley Police conducted house to house enquiries in a search for witnesses. The TVP Tactical Support Major Incident Policy Book  was used to record the policy for that operation whilst house to house enquiries were carried out over the 18th and 19th July in the Southmoor and Longworth areas (which included the various routes that led from the home address of Dr Kelly to Harrowdown Hill.)

This is a paragraph from the response by Thames Valley Police to a Freedom of Information  request about Operation Mason - the request referred to in my last post.

An interesting variation to the detail given above can be found in this recent post of mine http://drkellysdeath-timeforthetruth.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/nobody-saw-dr-kelly-at-harrowdown-hill.html  I included two paragraphs from number 46 in the schedule of responses to issues raised and these are repeated below:

In the days following the discovery of Dr Kelly's body a house-to-house operation was conducted in Southmoor, Longworth and the routes between the two villages.  This included any "premise which overlooked the possible routes taken".  In total 167 premises were identified and visited.  This was a large operation and took some weeks to complete.

A checkpoint was established on the public footpaths that cross Harrowdown Hill woods in an effort to identify potential witnesses to the movements of the deceased.

Spot the difference!  In one case the 'house to house enquiries were carried out over the 18th and 19th July.'  But it also 'took some weeks to complete.'  If we weren't dealing with someone's death here then TVP's behaviour would be comical.

The first paragraph of TVP's FoI stated:

Operation Mason was the name assigned to the search for the missing person Dr David Kelly, and retained for the subsequent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly’s death. 

My mentor on Major Incident Log books has pointed out that there should have been a number of other log books, not just the one dealing with the 167 premises.  Finding and interviewing witnesses, the interrogation of Dr Kelly's computers, the forensic investigations at the scene are examples.

I've never been too exercised about the retrospective nature of the times applied to this  particular logbook.  What is concerning though is just how much evidence Thames Valley Police didn't lodge at the Inquiry ... the other log books just referred to, other instances include statements from Sergeant Morris, DCI Young, ACC Page, the fingerprint development technician's report, the helicopter flying logs, the list goes on.  Anybody would think that Thames Valley Police had things to hide.

Of course if both Hutton and certain elements of Thames Valley Police were involved in a cover up it would be vital that incriminating documents weren't lodged.  Hutton's very many failings in questioning witnesses and examining evidence and resolving anomalies could be simply considered as incompetence.  It seems to me though that failure to reveal critical evidence actually in the possession of the Inquiry would border on the perversion of justice.

It's what documents weren't sent, what evidence wasn't given and what anomalies weren't  investigated that is so telling with the Hutton Inquiry.