Police admit they could not find trace of fingerprints on Dr David Kelly's glasses after 'suicide'

By Miles Goslett
Last updated at 11:50 PM on 14th March 2011

Suspicious: Police have admitted that no fingerprints were found on Dr David Kelly's glasses following his 'suicide'

Further questions about the circumstances of Dr David Kelly’s death have emerged after police admitted that no fingerprints or DNA were recovered from his glasses.

Thames Valley Police have confirmed that three fingerprint tests were conducted on the spectacles after Dr Kelly’s alleged suicide, each of which was negative.

But what has puzzled forensics experts more is the lack of DNA evidence, triggering theories that the glasses may have been cleaned by a third party.

The bifocals were in Dr Kelly’s coat pocket when his body was discovered in an Oxfordshire wood in July 2003, along with a mobile phone and three empty blister packs of pills.

These items, together with the knife he supposedly used to kill himself, a watch, and a bottle of water he is assumed to have drunk from, were tested for fingerprints. None was found.
The lack of prints is difficult to explain because Dr Kelly was not wearing gloves when his body was recovered.

Professor Allan Jamieson, of the Glasgow-based Forensic Institute, an international network providing forensic services, said: ‘It is now a routine practice to analyse the microscopic cells that are shed from people on to items that may be worn, such as glasses.

‘There is therefore a reasonable expectation of finding the wearer’s DNA on an item.’
Weapons inspector Dr Kelly allegedly killed himself after being named as the source of a BBC report accusing Tony Blair’s government of ‘sexing up’ a dossier on Iraqi weapons.

Unusually for a suspicious death, no coroner’s inquest has been held. Instead senior judge Lord Hutton chaired a public inquiry.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366301/David-Kelly-inquest-Police-admit-fingerprints-DNA-glasses.html#ixzz1GeNqEKvk