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Television

Electrodes on chest 'unusual'

Chris Tryhorn
Friday August 1, 2003


Heart experts today said it was "unusual" for someone to wear electrode pads while walking following revelations that government scientist David Kelly had four of the special monitors on his chest when his body was found in an Oxfordshire wood.

Dr Kelly - the BBC's source for a report claiming the government altered the contents of a dossier about Iraq - had probably been wearing a 24-hour electro-cardiogram recorder, also known as a Holter monitor, medical experts said.

But it was odd that the pads that are connected to the device had not been removed by doctors and were left attached to his chest, they said.

"If I was in a morgue and his body was presented to me I would have thought it had come out of a coronary care unit or an operating theatre," said Professor Konrad Jamrozik, of Imperial College Hospital London.

"It would be unusual for someone to be walking around wearing these pads," he told the press association.

Another heart specialist, who declined to be named, also said it was "very unusual" for someone to be found wearing the pads.

"It would suggest that at some time he had been connected to a heart monitor in a hospital or, and this is more likely, he had been connected to a 24-hour ECG recorder.

"This is a small device which would record any events in the rhythm and would be returned to a hospital to be analysed."

New details about Dr Kelly's physical condition emerged today when Lord Hutton opened his inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the scientist's death.

Lord Hutton read from an account of the postmortem examination conducted by the pathologist, Nicholas Hunt, the day after Dr Kelly died.

Dr Hunt's report revealed that Dr Kelly had been suffering from coronary artery disease, which would have hastened rather than caused his death.

The pathologist believed the main cause of Dr Kelly's death was bleeding from an incision on his left wrist, Lord Hutton said.

Dr Kelly had also taken off his watch and glasses before his death in an Oxfordshire wood two weeks ago, it was revealed.

"The removal of the watch in this way and the removal of spectacles are features pointing to this being an act of self-harm," the pathologist wrote.

· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857

 Timeline
18.07.2003: A chronology of events
18.07.2003: David Kelly: how a tragedy unfolded

 Useful link
Hutton inquiry website

 Friday August 1: Hutton inquiry opens
01.08.2003: TV coverage needed 'for accuracy'
01.08.2003: Newsnight editor key to BBC defence
01.08.2003: Kelly suffered coronary artery disease
01.08.2003: Hutton inquiry may take months
01.08.2003: Blair and Hoon to give evidence
01.08.2003: Gilligan's secret evidence
01.08.2003: Extracts from Gilligan's cross-examination
01.08.2003: Broadcasters want Kelly inquiry shown live
01.08.2003: Under the spotlight

 Wednesday July 30: Blair faces the press
30.07.2003: Blair: lessons must be learned from dossier affair

 Tuesday July 29: questions of trust
29.07.2003: Hain steps up attack on BBC
29.07.2003: BBC 'more trustworthy than government'
29.07.2003: Hugo Young: Every PM must have an Alastair Campbell
29.07.2003: Hutton inquiry opens on Friday

 Monday July 28: BBC charter row
28.07.2003: Government pressed on BBC charter renewal
28.07.2003: Full text of Lord McNally's letter
28.07.2003: Ministers retreat over BBC charter threats
28.07.2003: BBC faces new questions as charter debate reignites
28.07.2003: Hutton inquiry begins on Friday
28.07.2003: Davies: 'We are just doing our job'
28.07.2003: MoD admits Hoon met scientist

 Friday July 25: Campbell's future in question
25.07.2003: Blair in intensive talks over Campbell's future
25.07.2003: No 10 denies Campbell departure claim
25.07.2003: Shambles as Hoon stays silent

 Thursday July 24: Hutton inquiry developments
24.07.2003: Publication of Gilligan evidence shelved
24.07.2003: TV cameras barred from Kelly inquiry
24.07.2003: Jackie Ashley: BBC row is about power

 Wednesday July 23: laying the blame
23.07.2003: BBC to produce Kelly tape in bid to exonerate reporter
23.07.2003: BBC board accused of confusion
23.07.2003: How Kelly was named
23.07.2003: The leak, the name. Who is to blame?
23.07.2003: Leader: Pinning the blame

 Tuesday July 22: Blair hits back
22.07.2003: Blair denies role in naming Kelly
22.07.2003: Gilligan checked quotes with Kelly
22.07.2003: Hoon 'behind Kelly strategy'
22.07.2003: Bland hits out at No 10 'obsession'
22.07.2003: BBC stakes all on Gilligan
22.07.2003: BBC governors break ranks over Iraq dossier
22.07.2003: John Tusa: Don't attack the BBC

 Monday July 21: BBC in firing line
21.07.2003: Dyke defends Kelly revelation
21.07.2003: Inquiry to start within days
21.07.2003: Kelly inquest adjourned
21.07.2003: Hutton: I will decide scope of inquiry
21.07.2003: Full text: Lord Hutton's statement
21.07.2003: Hutton profile: 'A classic establishment figure'
21.07.2003: BBC said no to truce on dossier row
21.07.2003: Mangold: Kelly 'caught in a nutcracker'
21.07.2003: Corporation in deep water over nature of source
21.07.2003: How journalists were led to the source of the story
21.07.2003: BBC executives face staff revolt
21.07.2003: Gilligan is 'loose cannon', says Mandelson
21.07.2003: Murdoch papers open fire on BBC
21.07.2003: What the papers say
21.07.2003: What the international papers say

 Sunday July 20: Blair crisis, BBC confirm Kelly as source
21.07.2003: BBC statement
21.07.2003: Gilligan's statement
21.07.2003: Emily Bell: Standing firm
21.07.2003: Rod Liddle: In defence of the BBC
21.07.2003: Jackie Ashley: Spinning out of control

 Saturday July 19: Kelly suicide confirmed
19.07.2003: Police formally identify the body of David Kelly
20.07.2003: Blair ally blasts BBC's 'obsession'
20.07.2003: Dr Kelly was "hung out to dry" by MoD, says friend
20.07.2003: Peter Preston: Trial by media for 'hounds who mauled Kelly'
20.07.2003: Peter Mandelson: BBC put self-regard before truth

 Friday July 18: Kelly missing, body found
18.07.2003: 'BBC mole' reported missing
18.07.2003: Body found in search for MoD 'mole'
18.07.2003: BBC 'shocked and saddened'
18.07.2003: Gilligan will be 'worried and sickened' says Liddle
18.07.2003: Mangold: Kelly briefed News at Ten
18.07.2003: Kelly's treatment 'inexcusable', say friends
18.07.2003: Kelly: Blair promises public inquiry
18.07.2003: MPs accuse Gilligan of changing story
18.07.2003: Mystery over naming of MoD 'mole'
18.07.2003: Steven Barnett: Tragic price of contempt for free press

 MediaGuardian.co.uk special report
Iraq dossier affair






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