Dear Inquests Team - in the Office of Lord Hermer, UK Attorney General,with copy to his private office (e-m address no longer available) for his personal attention .
This is to be posted on my general website as was this open letter to our foremost law officer on the 22nd of July 2024
https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/23-articles/dr-david-kelly/416-to-the-attorney-general-of-the-uk-the-rt-hon-richard-hermer-kc-re-the-absence-of-a-proper-inquest-into-the-death-of-david-kelly-cmg-dsc-in-july-2003
I made it 'open' because of its obvious national importance, and especially because due process was subverted.. And because there is lasting concern in many citizens as to the adequacy of the Hutton Inquiry, into which an 'inquest' was subsumed. I have for instance cited that of the twenty two weeks of hearings, only one half of one day was spent on the forensic elements.
This will be my final plea. I apologise for some delay due to a serious health problem and in having no secretarial help. But I make no apology for the length of this. I first showed my concern for the death of the UK's most senior weapons expert in a letter to the Morning Star, published 16-12-2003, and was later joined into a small group of medically qualified persons who shared my concerns.
You last e-mailed me thus- 12-03-26
Dear Dr Halpin,
Thank you for your emails in relation to an application under section 13 of the Coroners Act 1988 for an inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly.
As we understand it, the issues you raise in your correspondence so far were previously considered in 2011 in an application under section 13, which was refused. We have yet to receive an application from you which makes clear the grounds which you seek to rely on in this application. This is required in line with our guidance, as set out in our email to you dated 10 September 2024, which is attached for reference.
The points you have raised in correspondence over the last six months are not substantively new. We will continue to review future correspondence from you, but we can only proceed with the application, and will only respond to any future correspondence, if you make an application based on substantively new evidence that has not been considered previously.
Yours sincerely, Inquests Team
You are fully aware that I have no formal 'standing' in this case but I have often spoken out, especially in OUR NHS as a doctor first and trauma and orthopaedic surgeon second, - and called a 'spade a spade '. I reflect later on war and loss, recalling my birth at Lyndhurst in the New Forest 14-4-1940, the first child of my father who left school in Limerick at age 14 and who taught himself electronics. He set up business with his engineer father in Southampton. In late September of that year he went into find that the business was a crater. The Nazis had blitzed the town twice where Hurricanes were being made. They dropped 4000 HE bombs and 40,000 incendiary bombs. This vital port and production centre could be seen burning from Cherbourg 40 miles away. He 'buckled to' and sustained us by servicing radios from our little cottage.
As a surgeon I have had the privilege and joy of healing thousands with good teams by my side. My sense of duty is very strong. I revere truth and the law in our beautiful land.
This e-mail to your office of 11-09-2024 is a summary -
Thank you for the courtesy of your reply to me. I outlined in my open letter to the Attorney General why the Hutton Inquiry was 'insufficient' in exploration of this unnatural death. As for the later examination of the evidence by the then Attorney General Dominic Grieve KC PC it would be euphemistic to use the word 'insufficient'. He based it on a document written by Professor Richard Shepherd. People with the relevant medical and forensic skills could tear large holes in that. I add that in other cases - say in that of the MI6 cryptographer Gareth Williams, the reasoning and propriety of this professor's contributions are found wanting. There are current questions in the national media about some of his evidence and conclusions deriving from it.
I will gather more evidence for you after a short break with my disabled wife - with whom I celebrated our 63 years of marriage on Monday!
The group of doctors, with an investigative journalist Miles Goslett joining us in 2007, has been pleading for an inquest in this most high profile death from Christmas 2003. One of our number - Michael Powers MB BS KC, has consistently said - both in writing and in several national TV interviews, that there was an 'insufficiency of inquiry'. This comes from an Assistant coroner who has always emphasised these vital points of coronial law as stated in my letter. ie The need to prove both intent to take ones life, and that the act leading to death was actual suicide - selbstmord.
The UK state has failed David Kelly CMG DSc. You will know that when the inquest - adjourned c. 21-07-2003 after the Hutton Inquiry that was set up on the instructions of PM Blair before formal identification of a corpse in Oxfordshire, was re-opened on the ?16th of March 2004 - and closed after about sixteen minutes by Nicholas Gardner, the senior Oxfordshire coroner!
I add that many people, especially in the UK - remember this most tragic death and, as stated in my letter, believe that the inquiry was 'insufficient'.
My contributions over these 23 years are based on my experience and knowledge gained in serving as a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, and with a very good knowledge of pathology - vital in the care of the living and in the investigations after death. I was fortunate to have received education in the forensic elements from Keith Mant whilst being educated and trained at St Mary's W2 - 1958 to 1964. (I am hoping to give evidence to the Devon Coroner's Court regarding deaths in the Holmesley Care Home, Sidford in 2021 but I am behindhand in that. Edited now - I was not called. I add that I have been refused copies of the Coroner's verdicts on these seven deaths (not all such) and that I have now demanded these under the FOI statutes.)
https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/arthur-keith-mant
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/26/world/keith-mant-dies-at-81-pathologist-helped-convict-nazis.html
In short, I am pleading with others for Lord Hermer to follow the 'lode star' - of UK law as he mentioned in his inaugural address.
for truth
David Halpin MB BS FRCS Kiln Shotts, Haytor, Newton Abbot TQ13 9XR
ONE Your note attached- re section 13 Coroners Act 1988 applications-
Quotes - rejection of evidence, irregularity of proceedings, insufficiency of inquiry, or the discovery of new facts or evidence.
Although the Attorney General has power to apply himself for an inquest into a particular case, he would only do so
when it is in the national interest, extending beyond the interest of the immediate family and friends of the deceased.
(ii) order an inquest where one was not held by the Coroner. The inquest was not held by the coroner
In bold above - the grounds for my application
TWO The subversion of due process - central
Our laws required the police to inform the Oxford coroner, Mr Nicholas Gardner, which the force did. He opened an inquest promptly but was then pressured to adjourn whilst the Hutton Inquiry was set up at record speed. Prime minister Blair (head of the executive) had ordered the latter and on his direction Lord Falconer had called Lord Hutton to his HoL's office to agree to chair it whilst the body was still cooling. The brief given was nebulous - 'to inquire into the circumstances surrounding....' and this move was unlawful. The inquest should have proceeded first, determining when, where and how he died, and the medical causes of his death. This was a gross subversion of due process and thus unlawful. I add that there should first have been a full criminal investigation by the Thames Valley Police given the incontrovertible evidence that the corpse was moved. This from 'sitting slumped against a tree (Ms Holmes lay searcher) to 'lying supine' with sufficient room for senior paramedic Bartlett to kneel between the tree and the head of the corpse whilst he placed electrodes on the chest - unnecessarily.
Your last e-mail - As we understand it, the issues you raise in your correspondence so far were previously considered in 2011 in an application under section 13, which was refused.
This hearing was extraordinary and did not get to the nub. Details. Date 19-12-2011. Great public interest - with c. £50,000 raised in 3 weeks by two ladies in Redditch. A need for a court with a capacious public gallery. Told by senior usher that I must apply at 48 hours before the hearing which I did. Instead a 'medieval' public gallery up a spiral staircase precluding some disabled persons. It was witnessed that Justice Nicol was at the foot of the staircase issuing tickets for places in the gallery! The sound system was poor or turned down and there were protests from some in the gallery. A knight of the realm soon left because he could not here the barristers.
The judgement was read at the end by Justice Nicol from 19 pages of text. This must have been based on the papers that were submitted and not on the hearing for and against - a good deal on 'the right to life' - a 'given'.
In spite of the deep public interest there was only one interview - by Press TV. I was asked on the previous evening by a BBC secretary to a senior journalist if I would give an interview. I agreed but that did not take place. His report was on BBC Online.
I had been contacted by Frances Gibb of the Times and a profile of me was published, after a photographer for the paper had come from north Devon. She understood me well. in part because she was a widow of a surgeon. She attended the hearing, and 'phoned me afterwards for a quote. Her report of this hearing was within a legal report in the paper including others. Question - was a D4 notice in place.
This is the ten minute video of the interview by a Press TV journalist in the pouring rain on the steps of the High Court -
https://youtu.be/mXmfQEKtCCM and this the preface on my website via https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/videos
A wide ranging interview which spoke for truth in the nation, and against the corruption at the top of government and in the tiers of power below. A possible reason for the likely assassination of Dr Kelly was stated. That is his possible knowledge about the incineration of the arms of Ali Abbas, his parents and ten (eight - edited) relatives was most likely caused by a nuclear weapon. ** The most intense, short lived thermal or nuclear energy must have been the agent for such terrible injuries to Ali and his twelve (ten) relatives. A neutron shell as being the likely weapon was not mentioned in the interview.
There were many hundreds of positive comments on the interview but those have gone since OFCOM blocked Press TV three months later. Ali Abbas' terrible injuries - from in my analysis - an WMD - the casus belli for the war ON Iraq and its destruction (caution - the images of his injuries are very disturbing) are dealt with in more detail in this post
https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/41-articles/blair/104-blairs-journey-questions-before-charge
THREE Your last e-mail The points you have raised in correspondence over the last six months are not substantively new.
Many of the points I have raised have not been tested in a court of law eg the results of FOI requests made by independent journalist Miles Goslett eg no finger prints on the knife when he was not wearing gloves (and the knife was not produced at Hutton but a photocopy instead. And forensic examination had shown the presence of rabbit fur!
There are many pieces of evidence which are 'substantively new'. I add those many critical omissions of evidence within Hutton, plus the absence of key witnesses such as Mai Pederson who translated for David Kelly in some of those 39 visits he made to Iraq under ONSCOM. I add further that his second visit to Iraq after the holocaust of 'shock and awe' that started 22-03-2003, needs further examination in a coronial court. 'It is what the Iraqis say it is - (I paraphrase) machines for making hydrogen for artillery balloons' as reported by Peter Beaumont in the Observer. This demolished the charge made by the US that these two 'vehicles' found by the Iraq Survey Group in May 2003 and much publicised, were capable of producing a 'WMD'. This had been predicted by Colin Powell, 65th Secretary of State, to the UN 'Security' Council and a packed audience on 6-02-2003. This lie, the casus belli based on the alleged possession of WMD's, which was backed up by Blair in the HoC in the days before the shock and aweing, was deflated by this moral man in just two sentences. Is this why his life was more endangered? McKay who lead the survey group, later dismissed as 'slam dunk' such possession.
MIles Goslett kindly addressed your concerns in an e-mail of 15-03-25 I copy and paste it -
Since 2011 there have been a few developments that warrant official investigation. The latter part of the second edition of my book deals with each of these points.
1. It’s been established that Dr Kelly’s dental records were removed and then replaced during the period he disappeared / his body was found. His dentist must be examined at an inquest.
2. Sarah Pape should be re-examined at an inquest. She told John Scurr in 2004 that she no longer believed her brother killed himself though didn’t mention this to Hutton in 2003.
3. In August 2018 I asked TVP for full details of all forensic tests carried out on DK’s clothes. They refused to furnish me with the info but we know these tests were conducted. Must be aired at an inquest. (DSH adds - Farmer Weaving of Southmoor was probably the last to see David Kelly. He hailed him across a field and noted he was wearing jeans and a shirt. Scotsman and Guardian - Saturday. The day was muggy. The corpse was clad in a Barbour jacket in which pockets were the tablets and cell phone. Weaving was not called, nor members of the local and informal search party.)
4. There are current questions over public confidence in Professor Richard Shepherd. (The very distressing case of Chapman being one)
5. David Broucher should be re-examined at an inquest in light of his evidence to Hutton being confused/faulty (through no fault of his own). All detailed in my book - 'An Inconvenient Death'
6. The exhumation of DK’s body in 2017 was arguably destruction of evidence. We need to know more about this murky episode - via an inquest. (DSH adds. The permission for exhumation was sought from the Canon of the Oxford Diocese and given. But David Kelly's remains were in a small plot beside the churchyard owned by the local PC - and not the 'hallowed ground' of the Diocese. The permission to cremate was in the hands of the Home Office if I recall rightly.)
I add this. An intention to take his own life could have been proven, I believe, by a full and 'forensic' examination of his cell phone. It was switched off (unusually) from the time he left his house at c. 3pm until 6 pm when it was 'live' again briefly. My webmaster who is expert in these things tells me that even when 'off' a signal is emitted - I think he said every 20 seconds. If this is the case his movements from leaving the house to his death could have been determined and intention, place of death etc determined. The place of death is one of three omissions in the eventual death certificate.
FOUR Personal - attacks etc
I have been called a 'conspiracy theorist' four times to my knowledge for my doggedness in this plea. By David Aaronovitch - Times etc, Nick Cohen who writes in the New Statesman, by John Rentoul - previous assistant to the then Mr Blair, and by Antony Kamm. This common slur was included by him in a Times leader when he was an assistant editor. They would not know of my reputation as a doctor and surgeon, particularly in diagnosis and for analysis and logic on an editorial board of the leading orthopaedic journal.
Of course, I relate these to my continued plea for a formal and full inquest - which would run for at least six weeks with a central forensic focus. I was poisoned when alone in Gaza in 2005 but emptied my stomach promptly. I was returning by Alitalia the next day but was so sick I was hospitalised in Milan and given IV fluids. I recovered sufficiently to return to HR three days later. Blood tests showed disturbed liver function tests. 40 mls of blood were taken by a pathologist friend and sent for wide and expert analysis to Porton Down. No report emerged.
On 30-12-2006 I was with 15 others speeding to Gaza - myself to help as a doctor (with 2 others) in yet another but smaller shoah. Our vessel MV Dignity of 'Free Gaza' was rammed by one of three gunboats, in the dark and a stiff sea, 65 miles off the coast of Palestine. The clear intention was to drown us. I thought my end had come, and so did Cynthia McKinney my very good friend. Instead - the vessel was made strongly of marine ply, not GRP, and thus stayed afloat with 12 bilge pumps working. The 'commander' of the ramming vessel with its reinforced prow, first accused us of being 'terrorists' and that he would shoot us. He demanded that we reversed our course to Gaza and make back to Larnaka. Instead the British captain made for Tyre/Sour.
https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/6-articles/palestineisrael/70-piracy-off-the-promised-land-the-ramming-of-the-dignity-with-clear-lethal-intent
FIVE Gross interference in my communications.
Some instances. A sound recording of a meeting we had with Frances Swaine and Merry Varney of Leigh Day was made in June 2011 - on a Tuesday. We had decided that we must 'JR' the decision of AG Grieve. I found that after preparation it had been received promptly by my colleagues (at least three having since died). But I did not know of it until the Saturday after a message from the local PO that a package awaited me. There I found a Jiffy pack had been opened, the auto franking of the price torn away and the disc inside. Miles Goslett was informed and he advised me to report this criminal matter to the local police. I did so that afternoon and showed the evidence to a cool but empathetic plain clothed officer who had served in Northern Ireland. I heard of no following investigation.
I have had post opened and not franked - most recently on my birthday - from a niece. My phone calls have for months been made faint and distorted, there are sometimes 'voices off', and occasionally the call with a staunch friend for truth in Torquay is cut.
For several months I have to shed over 1000 'spam' messages most days.
I noted last night that after I had sent the first draft to this friend c. 9pm, the e-mail was not in the sent box. I found a pair of this e-mail in the deleted box. I had thought this Linux operating system, as used by the police, was secure. Obviously it is not.
I am aware of the dangers of standing up and speaking out as my dear father always encouraged. There have been 'unnatural' deaths of two friends who were deeply concerned about the death of Dr Kelly. One was examined by the Oxford coroner Mr Salter, and the other in Plymouth by Mr Arrow. The autopsy requested by Dr Frost and myself was blocked by one of his four brothers.
I have brought some of these matters to 'my' MP Mr Mel Stride but to no avail. He also knows of other instances of my being harassed.
SIX A key omission - the first post-mortem report made by pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt - after midnight at the John Radcliffe Infirmary and in the presence of 9 police officers
I have linked your office to this - https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/23-articles/dr-david-kelly/144-letter-to-ms-c-f-floyd-investigation-officer-general-medical-council
And regarding Professor Shepherd - this -
https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/23-articles/dr-david-kelly/149-concerns-re-evidence-of-professor-shepherd
Blood alcohol 316 mg / 100 ml
Quote - I am greatly concerned by the opinions he gave in FIVE. 'I have seen many cases of death from haemorrhage following incised injuries to the wrist in my career …..... ' He provides only assertion. The post mortem report HSL 82 is advanced as an anecdote to prove that in one case at leasta human died SOLELYas a result of an incision of an ulnar artery at the wrist. The text of this report with the causes of death shows this contention to be completely untrue.
The expert opinion of Dr Richard Shepherd was central or even crucial in the grounds upon which the Attorney General Grieve based his decision to refuse the plea for an inquest. It was relevant too in the hearing of my plea and the refusal of it in the Administrative Division of the High Court. I believe that he has not approached his task in an even handed manner and that is unprofessional to say the very least.
SEVEN Current context - especially since October 10th 2023 to the present
as here - https://afedj.org/palm-sunday-attack-on-al-ahli-arab-hospital-in-gaza/
A hospital I visited in February 2003 in Gaza - the Al Ahli Arab - the first of my ten visits, two with my wife Susan. I was shown into the chapel to view a hole in the roof and shattered tiles below. An Israeli missile. Add the white phosphorus rained down on families sheltering in its car park in the autumn of 2023.
I happened upon a recording of an examination of Lord Hermer by the Select Committee 5-04-25 of his work and stance in the field of human rights, and which was his prime interest as a barrister. I have played the whole again but find the audio poor - an echoic room part cause.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002b7l1/select-committees-joint-committee-on-human-rights-with-the-attorney-general 1hr 33 minutes
The first part deals with immigration and asylum. I did not catch any discussion of a connection between the bombing and killing of families - as in Afghanistan, Iraq (4 million refugees), Libya etc and survivors fleeing to other countries.
These phrases were oft repeated - rule of law, criminal gangs (as at Crawford ranch in April 2002 when Blair promised British blood to Bush for the unlawful war ON Iraq), rules based order - as promoted by the US which has bombed over 30 countries since WW2, law and order in town centres etc.
Later there was a focus on the war in Ukraine, the proxy for NATO the latter. MP Alex Sobel raised 2 questions and spoke of the war crimes of eastern Ukrainian children being removed and fostered in Russia. I did not catch mention of the Maidan in 2014 and the killing by snipers of police nor the ousting of an elected government. Nor of the central role of Ms Nuland. No mention of Minsk 1 and 2, the later peace agreement torpedoed by Johnson, nor of the shelling of families in oblasts of Donbass and Luhansk since 2014 with a reported c. 10,000 killed of all ages.
But I am certain that there was no mention of the human rights of the native people of Palestine, subject to an holocaust - the mass killing of humans by humans, grafted on to a 76 year long genocide.
This is my 14th posting in the theme of 'the continuum of fascism' -
https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/6-articles/palestineisrael/426-the-continuum-of-fascism-part-14-the-gazan-holocaust-grafted-on-to-a-76-year-long-genocide-in-plain-sight-globally
The preface says it all, the blood has not dried. John Newsinger's book 'The Blood Never Dried', the obverse of the 'The Sun Never Sets ...' echoes this.
And I have addressed Sir Kier Starmer PM thrice re continued complicity of UK governments in the holocaust of Gaza that has been added to the 76 year long genocide of the native people. This the link -
https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/6-articles/palestineisrael/425-addition-to-the-continuum-of-fascism-part-eleven-this-the-third-letter-to-sir-keir-starmer-prime-minister-of-great-britain-on-the-27th-of-february-2025-ad
Hiroshima August 6th 1945
London Agreement - US, UK, France and USSR setting up Nürnberg to prosecute Nazi war criminals - August 8, 1945
Nagasaki August 9th 1945
That is - Each participant knew of an Holocaust as it sat, and would have known of that to follow in less than 24 hours
The fascist -"The sub-human who delights in crushing the life out of humans' as in Gaza. DSH
And note that the Holocaust Memorial Day does not include the killing of many thousands, with many more to die first of radiation sickness, and cancers later. As taxpayers, we fund this 'insufficient' memorial. I cleave to Howard Zinn's words at the end
https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/7-articles/political/137-hmd-a-grotesque-hypocrisy
EIGHT Dear Lord Hermer
You were kind when you advised a small group of doctors in your chambers in 2008. You were direct and your advice that we concentrate on haemorrhage as the first cause of death was good. We took notice because of your straightforwardness and judged that you thought we had a good case. I soon prepared an 11 page document dealing with the physiology/pathology of bleeding which I imagine was sent to the GMC and to the then Attorney General. It is posted on my general website, my one dealing entirely with Palestine being here - eg
https://doveanddolphin.co.uk/latest-articles/to-the-children-of-palestine/
Our dear nation is lowered beyond the most morbid imagination. The case of David Kelly CMG DSc is symbolic. It is in your hand as a most experienced lawyer to restore morality and lawfulness - fairness, in our country. At present, the only way is down.
As for myself, I love my life and my association with truthful people eg Heather Stroud MA whom I first met in the ' City of Peace' - Jerusalem in 2005
https://countercurrents.org/2025/04/the-uks-continued-designation-of-the-islamic-resistance-movement-hamas-makes-it-complicit-in-genocide/
And the natural world. I have planted/had planted 30 acres of woodland which are now to be shared as the Halpin Family Foundation CIO. The garden and wood here becomes more beautiful each year with 'nature by my hand'
https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/videos/55-gardening/367-love-gardens-and-avoid-back-pain 9 minutes
I will continue to speak up for the general good until my pulse stops.
with kind regards
from a doctor who says 'do ones best to heal and not to harm', and 'no mother and child should be in the least harmed anywhere in our still beautiful world.'
David Halpin MB BS FRCS Dartmoor
