CHAPTER 10
The factors which may have led
Dr Kelly to take his own life
440. In his evidence on 2 September Professor
Hawton, an eminent expert on the subject of suicide, stated the
factors which, in his opinion, contributed to Dr Kelly taking
his own life. The parts of his evidence which I consider to be
of particular relevance are the following:
[2 September, page 98, line 10]
Q …. what styles of thinking are most associated
with suicide?
A. Well, the one for which there is most evidence
is the tendency to feel hopeless when faced with a difficult circumstance.
Q. Are there any other relevant feelings?
A. Yes, certainly a sense of feeling trapped,
being unable to escape from an unbearable situation. Isolation
may be another factor, either actual isolation in the sense of
not having people around or relative isolation where a person
is unable to communicate with those around them because of their
particular personality style.
Q. Are there any other additional factors that
one might consider here?
A. Well, another important factor is where a
person has suffered a severe blow to their self esteem, that is
their sense of self worth. Shame can be another factor. Sometimes
people appear to engage in a suicidal act, and I am here including
attempting suicide to show other people how bad they are feeling,
and occasionally there seems to be a desire for revenge, that
revenge is a part of the motivation.
[2 September, page 112, line 21]
Q. We have also heard some of Dr Kelly's reaction
reported by Mrs Kelly yesterday. Was there anything in that that
is relevant?
A. This is his reaction to -
Q. The fact that his name is coming out.
A. It seemed to be extremely painful for him.
Being a very private person, I think the idea that he would not
only be questioned but this would be in public and televised -
this would be on television, was extremely difficult for him.
Q. And the circumstances of his appearance itself
before the Foreign Affairs Committee, you have seen the video.
Is there anything that you can, from an expert perspective, help
us with?
A. Well, I watched part of it before I got involved
at all in the Inquiry; and I remember thinking at the time that
I was surprised that - not about the questions he was asked but
about the style of some of the questions, the questioning of someone
who was obviously such a senior and important person in his field;
and having watched the full video, I would confirm my - you know,
I would agree, if you like, with the impression that I had beforehand.
There were clearly times during the interview
when he became uncomfortable and almost seemed a little bit confused,
I do not mean in a pathological sense, but he seemed quite uncertain.
Q. What were the indications that you, from an
expert point of view, would look at for that?
A. Well, in terms of his - the way he looked,
when he looked down and moved in a slightly uncomfortable way
and he looked, at times, rather sort of hot and flustered, but
there were also, I understand, environmental circumstances which
did not help.
Q. Yes, we have heard it was a hot day; and we
have heard that the fans were turned off.
Q. We have also heard Rachel's description of
her father as he returned from that. Was there anything in that
description which has assisted you?
A. Yes. I think, again, I am relying, obviously,
on the information - the information you heard was very similar
to the information I was given. There were no major discrepancies.
He seemed to have been very disturbed - distressed, rather, by
that hearing. He gave the impression of having felt belittled
by some of the questioning; and I gather he expressed, unusually
for him, a certain degree of anger about a particular style of
particular questioning that he received. She told me that when
he came to her house in Oxford where he was staying, he, using
her words, appeared to be "shocked, broken and humiliated".
This was obviously a very, very, very stressful experience for
him.
441. Professor Hawton referred to the fact
that when Dr Kelly left his daughter Rachel's house in Oxford
on the evening of Wednesday 16 July he arranged to meet her the
following evening, 17 July, to go for a walk:
[2 September, page 115, line 15]
Q. What significance does that have?
A. Well it suggests to me that it was probably
unlikely he was thinking of suicide at that point in time.
A. I think having become more aware about the
nature of the relationship with his daughter, I doubt very much
whether he would have arranged to meet her to go for a walk knowing
that he was likely not to have been alive when it came to the
point.
442. Professor Hawton referred to a series
of e-mails which Dr Kelly had sent to friends and colleagues around
11.18am on the morning of Thursday 17 July [paragraph 123]:
[2 September, page 116, line 20]
A. Well, I understand that around 11.18 he sent
a series of e-mails to friends and colleagues who had sent him
messages during the days beforehand. He obviously had not seen
these because he had not been at home and he had only gone to
his computer that morning. I got the impression he had written
a series of e-mails offline and then sent them off all at the
same time.
A. Yes. And these were to colleagues, ex colleagues
and professional acquaintances; and the striking thing in those
messages is that he talked, briefly - he mentioned, briefly, the
difficulties that he was facing, but he also talked about how
he hoped to get back to Iraq and continue his work there. So there
was also a sense of optimism at the same time.
Q. Can I take you to an illustration of that,
at COM/1/10? If you look towards the bottom of the screen you
can see:
"Sorry about your latest run in with the
media. I hope you are not getting too much flack. As we both know
only too well dealing with the media is always a balancing act
and its always impossible to predict which way it will go. When
you get it right everybody is in favour but when you get it wrong
you don't see their feet for dust."
We can see the response: "Many thanks for
your thoughts. It has been difficult. Hopefully it will all blow
over by the end of the week and I can travel to Baghdad and get
on with the real work."
Is that the type of e-mail you are referring
to?
Q. What does that illustrate for you?
A. Well, it would suggest - one cannot be definite
about this - that at that stage he still had optimism for the
future and that it was probably unlikely that he had ideas or
certainly definite ideas of suicide at that point in time. Obviously
it is conceivable that he was presenting a different light in
those e-mails but I think a logical conclusion would be that he
was not thinking of suicide at that time.
443. Professor Hawton was then asked about
the e-mails which Dr Kelly received on the morning of Thursday
17 July which set out Parliamentary Questions including the Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what
(a) Civil Service and (b) MoD rules and regulations may have been
infringed by Dr David Kelly in talking to BBC Radio 4 Defence
Correspondent Andrew Gilligan.
and the Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what
disciplinary measures his department will take against Dr David
Kelly.
Professor Hawton was asked:
[2 September, page 120, line 15]
Do you think any of those might have been relevant?
A. Well, I think it is likely that he would have
begun to perceive that the problem was escalating, the difficulties
for him were escalating and that the prospects for an early resolution
of his difficulties were diminishing.
[2 September, page 122, line 15]
Q. So when do you believe that Dr Kelly is likely
to have formed the intention?
A. Well, it is my opinion that it is likely that
he formed the opinion either during the morning, probably later
in the morning or during the early part of the afternoon, before
he went on that walk.
444. I think it probable that one of the
concerns which must have been weighing heavily on Dr Kelly's mind
during the last few days of his life was the knowledge that there
appeared to be in existence, known to members of the FAC, a full
note of his conversation with Ms Susan Watts on 30 May. This concern
would have included the knowledge that he had denied (question
132 in his evidence to the FAC) that the words which he had spoken
to Ms Watts in his telephone conversation with her on 30 May and
which she had quoted on the Newsnight programme were his words.
Dr Kelly had told the MoD at the meeting on 14 July that he had
not spoken to Ms Watts about the September dossier (see paragraph
97) and he must also have been worried that it would emerge and
would become known to the MoD that he had had a lengthy discussion
with Ms Watts about intelligence matters in relation to the 45
minutes claim and that he had had a similar but shorter conversation
with Mr Gavin Hewitt.
445. In their evidence both Ms Rachel Kelly
and Dr Pape suggested that when giving evidence to the FAC Dr
Kelly was probably misled because Mr Chidgey suggested that the
words which he quoted to Dr Kelly were said by him in a meeting
with Ms Watts, whereas they were said in a telephone conversation.
This may be so, but after the hearing before the FAC I think that
Dr Kelly must have been concerned by his express denial that the
words quoted on the Newsnight programme by Ms Watts came from
him.
446. The Parliamentary Question, which was
an entirely proper one, sent to him on the morning of 17 July
asking what Civil Service and MoD rules and regulations had been
infringed by him talking to Mr Gilligan and the Parliamentary
Question, which was also an entirely proper one, asking the Secretary
of State for Defence what disciplinary measures his Department
would take against him, would have made it appear likely to him
that his discussions with journalists were going to come under
investigation. As Professor Hawton stated, the difficulties for
him were escalating and the prospect for an early resolution of
his difficulties were diminishing.
447. Later in his evidence Professor Hawton
gave the following evidence:
[2 September, page 124, line 6]
MR DINGEMANS: Do you consider Dr Kelly had developed
any sort of psychiatric disorder before his death?
A. I have thought very carefully about this;
and my conclusion is that he was not suffering from a severe psychiatric
disorder.
Q. We have heard of his weight loss; and we have
also heard about some of the sparkle going out of his eyes. Are
those features relevant?
A. Those are certainly relevant; but other features
which suggest that he did not have a psychiatric disorder, and
I am particularly thinking here of depression, is that his mood
was predominantly reported as being quite upbeat in spite of all
his difficulties, except at certain times. There was not a sense
of a persistent depressive mood. His sleep, as far as we can gather
from the family accounts, was not disturbed and his appetite was
good.
Q. And those are contra-indicators are they?
[2 September, page 126, line 10]
Q. We have heard that he was a weapons inspector,
it must have put him in all sorts of difficult situations. Was
that similar to the situation that he found himself in towards
the end of his life?
A. No, I think there was an important difference.
One has heard about the situations he faced, for example, in Iraq,
while cross-examining people, which sounded to me quite terrifying
situations. I gather he could cope with those extremely well.
I think the importance about the problems he was facing shortly
before his death was that these really challenged his identity
of himself, his self esteem, his self worth, his image of himself
as a valued and loyal employee and as a significant scientist.
Q. And in that respect some of the comments reported
of him being middle level, et cetera, how are they likely to have
affected him?
A. Well, I can only really go on particularly
his wife's account that these were really very upsetting for him.
448. At the conclusion of his evidence
on 2 September Professor Hawton was asked:
[2 September, page 132, line 2]
Q. Have you considered, now, with the benefit
of hindsight that we all have, what factors did contribute to
Dr Kelly's death?
A. I think that as far as one can deduce, the
major factor was the severe loss of self esteem, resulting from
his feeling that people had lost trust in him and from his dismay
at being exposed to the media.
Q. And why have you singled that out as a major
factor?
A. Well, he talked a lot about it; and I think
being such a private man, I think this was anathema to him to
be exposed, you know, publicly in this way. In a sense, I think
he would have seen it as being publicly disgraced.
Q. What other factors do you think were relevant?
A. Well, I think that carrying on that theme,
I think he must have begun - he is likely to have begun to think
that, first of all, the prospects for continuing in his previous
work role were diminishing very markedly and, indeed, my conjecture
that he had begun to fear he would lose his job altogether.
Q. What effect is that likely to have had on
him?
A. Well, I think that would have filled him with
a profound sense of hopelessness; and that, in a sense, his life's
work had been not wasted but that had been totally undermined.
LORD HUTTON: Could you just elaborate a little
on that, Professor, again? As sometimes is the case in this Inquiry,
witnesses give answers and further explanation is obvious, but
nonetheless I think it is helpful just to have matters fully spelt
out. What do you think would have caused Dr Kelly to think that
the prospects of continuing in his work were becoming uncertain?
A. Well, I think, my Lord, that first of all,
there had been the letter from Mr Hatfield which had laid out
the difficulties that Dr Kelly, you know, is alleged to have got
into.
A. And in that letter there was also talk that
should further matters come to light then disciplinary proceedings
would need to be instigated.
A. And then of course there were the Parliamentary
Questions which we have heard about, which suggested that questions
were going to be asked about discipline in Parliament.
LORD HUTTON: Yes. Thank you.
MR DINGEMANS: Were there any other relevant factors?
A. I think the fact that he could not share his
problems and feelings with other people, and the fact that he,
according to the accounts I have been given, actually increasingly
withdrew into himself. So in a sense he was getting further and
further from being able to share the problems with other people,
that is extremely important.
Q. Were there any other factors which you considered
relevant?
A. Those are the main factors that I consider
relevant.
[2 September, page 134, line 23]
Q. …you have had the benefit of judging
everything with hindsight. You have had the benefit of exploring
Dr Kelly's psychology and his make up in a way that no-one could
have done at the time.
Q. If I was a lay person before Dr Kelly's death,
would I have had any chance of knowing the possible outcomes?
A. I think for a lay person then certainly not.
I think it would not have been an outcome one would have predicted.
In those answers Professor Hawton referred to the
letter which Mr Hatfield had sent to Dr Kelly dated 9 July 2003.
It appears from the evidence of the police that Dr Kelly had not
opened the letter, but Mr Hatfield had already told Dr Kelly of
the matters set out in the letter at the conclusion of the interview
on 7 July.
449. Professor Hawton gave further evidence
on 24 September in relation to information that the death certificate
of Dr Kelly's mother, who had died on 13 May 1964, stated the
cause of death as a chest infection due to barbiturate poison
and that a coroner had returned an open verdict, and that Dr Kelly
believed that his mother had taken her own life after suffering
from depression for many years. Professor Hawton stated that there
was no evidence that Dr Kelly had suffered significant mental
illness before or at the time of his death and Professor Hawton
further stated that the fact that his mother appeared to have
committed suicide was of no relevance in determining the factors
which contributed to Dr Kelly's death. Referring to the facts
relating to the death of Dr Kelly's mother, counsel to the Inquiry
asked Professor Hawton:
[24 September, page 166, line 22]
Q. So in the light of those matters, can I relate
those back to your previous conclusions and ask you now, in the
light of all the evidence, to state your conclusions or the summary
of factors that you believe may have contributed to Dr Kelly's
death?
A. Well, I stick with the conclusions that I
presented when I appeared before. Firstly, that I think one major
factor was the severe loss of self esteem that he had from feeling
that people had lost trust in him and from his "dismay"
was the word I used before, maybe that was an understatement,
at being exposed in the media. And I think the fact, as I think
has now been generally acknowledged, that he was a very private
person made his being in the media all the more stressful for
him.
The second factor, I believe, was that he probably
was coming to fear that the prospects for continuing his previous
work were diminishing and it is possible that he feared he would
lose his job altogether, perhaps particularly when he saw some
of the communications that he had received on the morning of his
death.
And thirdly I think the effect of this on him
would have been to have filled him with a profound sense of hopelessness.
I think another very relevant factor, as I said when I appeared
before, was his private nature, his dislike of sharing personal
problems and feelings with other people; and according to several
accounts, he had become increasingly withdrawn during the - into
himself during the period shortly before his death which meant
that I think he became even less accessible or less able to discuss
his problems with other people.
Q. And those remain your conclusions?
450. It is not possible to be certain as
to the factors which drove Dr Kelly to commit suicide but in the
light of the evidence which I have heard I consider that it is
very probable that Professor Hawton's opinion as to the factors
which contributed to Dr Kelly taking his own life is correct.
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Conclusion on the factors which
may have led Dr Kelly to take his own life
451. I consider that it is very probable
that Professor Hawton's opinion is correct when he stated:
[2 September, page 132, line 2]
Q. Have you considered, now, with the benefit
of hindsight that we all have, what factors did contribute to
Dr Kelly's death?
A. I think that as far as one can deduce, the
major factor was the severe loss of self esteem, resulting from
his feeling that people had lost trust in him and from his dismay
at being exposed to the media.
Q. And why have you singled that out as a major
factor?
A. Well, he talked a lot about it; and I think
being such a private man, I think this was anathema to him to
be exposed, you know, publicly in this way. In a sense, I think
he would have seen it as being publicly disgraced.
Q. What other factors do you think were relevant?
A. Well, I think that carrying on that theme,
I think he must have begun - he is likely to have begun to think
that, first of all, the prospects for continuing in his previous
work role were diminishing very markedly and, indeed, my conjecture
that he had begun to fear he would lose his job altogether.
Q. What effect is that likely to have had on
him?
A. Well, I think that would have filled him with
a profound sense of hopelessness; and that, in a sense, his life's
work had been not wasted but that had been totally undermined.
LORD HUTTON: Could you just elaborate a little
on that, Professor, again? As sometimes is the case in this Inquiry,
witnesses give answers and further explanation is obvious, but
nonetheless I think it is helpful just to have matters fully spelt
out. What do you think would have caused Dr Kelly to think that
the prospects of continuing in his work were becoming uncertain?
A. Well, I think, my Lord, that first of all,
there had been the letter from Mr Hatfield which had laid out
the difficulties that Dr Kelly, you know, is alleged to have got
into.
A. And in that letter there was also talk that
should further matters come to light then disciplinary proceedings
would need to be instigated.
A. And then of course there were the Parliamentary
Questions which we have heard about, which suggested that questions
were going to be asked about discipline in Parliament.
LORD HUTTON: Yes. Thank you.
MR DINGEMANS: Were there any other relevant factors?
A. I think the fact that he could not share his
problems and feelings with other people, and the fact that he,
according to the accounts I have been given, actually increasingly
withdrew into himself. So in a sense he was getting further and
further from being able to share the problems with other people,
that is extremely important.
Q. Were there any other factors which you considered
relevant?
A. Those are the main factors that I consider
relevant.
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