'Hypocrite' Hoon and No10

The Government was accused today of driving weapons expert David Kelly to his death to win its battle with the BBC.

In a devastating closing address by Jeremy Gompertz QC, counsel for the Kelly family, an extraordinary series of charges was laid at the door of No10 and the Ministry of Defence.

He was named as the source of BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan's story about the "sexing up" of a government dossier on Iraq being capable of launching weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes.

Mr Gompertz said the Kelly family had been "deeply hurt and angered" by evidence given by MoD officials - particularly three claims made by personnel chief Richard Hatfield.

These were that Dr Kelly had been guilty of a "fundamental failing" in meeting Gilligan, that with hindsight he should have been suspended over his conduct, and that the MoD support for him had been "outstanding."

Mr Gompertz said Mr Hatfield had put forward an "arrogant dismissal of Dr Kelly as the author of his own misfortune". In his claims about the support offered to Dr Kelly, the family thought these were "risible".

Mr Gompertz said: "Never again should someone be put into such a position. Never again should a civil servant be so publicly named if there is an alternative route to a legitimate objective.

"Never again should there be such feeble support for an employee in a time of crisis." Mr Gompertz said the Kelly family contrasted the refusal of the Government to admit it had done anything wrong with admissions given by the BBC that it was guilty of some errors.

But the media did not escape criticism from the family, the lawyer added.

The Today programme, on which Mr Gilligan broadcast his original claim, was taken to task for "making news as opposed to reporting it".

Investigative and political journalists were criticised for their " confrontational approach".

Mr Gompertz said Dr Kelly had not been guilty of any major wrongdoing in agreeing to meet Gilligan and that his account of the meetings had been much more reliable than the reporter's. Dr Kelly's version had been "substantially consistent, accurate and truthful" while "considerable doubt" had been thrown over Gilligan's version, particularly because he had lost his handwritten note.

Mr Gompertz said: "Mr Gilligan has proved himself to be an unreliable historian in other respects."

Mr Gompertz said: "The family invite the inquiry to find that the Government made a deliberate decision to use Dr Kelly as part of its strategy in its battle with the BBC."

This included forcing him to take part in two grillings by parliamentary committees. Many witnesses from the Government - including Mr Hoon - had "systematically denied" such a strategy, Mr Gompertz said.

But he said: "The hypocrisy of the denials has now been demonstrated by the disclosure of passages of Mr Campbell's diaries. which indicated that Mr Hoon had been an enthusiastic supporter of getting Dr Kelly's name out in the open.

Mr Gompertz said: "The Secretary of State's denials of the Government's strategy put to him in cross examination were false."

Mr Gompertz laid particular stress on the reference in Mr Campbell's diaries to a possible "plea bargain" with Dr Kelly.

The lawyer suggested that such a deal involved the Government agreeing not to discipline the scientist or put his pension rights at risk, provided he gave evidence to the parliamentary committees along the lines of "steers" he had been given by his MoD bosses.

In his closing speech, counsel for the Government, Jonathan Sumption, said that Downing Street was bound to have been involved with the drawing up of the Iraq dossier.

Mr Sumption insisted that the evidence presented to the Hutton Inquiry clearly showed they had not attempted to impose their view on the intelligence services, let alone tamper with intelligence material.

The change proposed by Mr Campbell to the section of the dossier dealing with the claim that Iraq's weapons could be deployed in 45 minutes was a "relatively footling" one, said Mr Sumption.