Iraq dossier 'was spun'

Intelligence officers warned that the Iraq dossier had been spun, the inquiry into Dr David Kelly's death heard today.

In dramatic new evidence on the first day of the hearings, a defence intelligence chief said the unnamed officials wrote to senior officers voicing concerns about the threat from Saddam Hussein.

They focused on the crucial claims that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction ready to be fired at 45 minutes' notice. The officers protested in writing that this was "too strong".

Lord Hutton's investigation into Dr Kelly's apparent suicide heard full details of his involvement in BBC claims that the Government "sexed up" its dossier. Dr Kelly was found dead in woods near his Oxfordshire home last month.

The inquiry, in the Royal Courts of Justice, puts the credibility of Tony Blair's government firmly on the line.

Lord Hutton heard a tribute to Dr Kelly's "enormously impressive" and "superb" work on Iraqi biological and chemical weapons by his close former colleague and fellow weapons inspector Terence Taylor.

Dr Kelly was said to have been in a "positive" frame of mind in the days leading up to his death and was looking forward to returning to Iraq to search for Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes-He met BBC defence correspondent-Andrew Gilligan twice, both times off Ministry of Defence premises.

Dr Kelly was sanctioned by the Government to brief the media as "the expert of choice" but the inquiry was told he may have gone too far and broken Civil Service rules about commenting on ministerial matters.

MoD personnel chief Richard Hatfield said that Dr Kelly was fully aware that his name was about to be publicised. He said the scientist's name was confirmed because the MoD viewed it as inevitable that Dr Kelly's identity would become known.

Lord Hutton was also given details of disputes between Dr Kelly and his employers over his pay, which was £63,496 a year at the time of his death.