Dr Kelly, an Oxford-educated microbiologist, had spent the majority of his career as a consultant to the MoD and other government departments and agencies, advising them on his area of expertise - arms control. He had been scientific adviser to the Proliferation and Arms Control secretariat for more than three years and, following the first Gulf War, he had worked as a weapons inspector in Iraq between 1991 and 1998. He became the senior adviser on biological warfare for the UN in Iraq in 1994, holding the post until 1999.

Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide after being named as the source of a BBC report suggesting that intelligence on Iraq's weapons was "transformed" on the orders of Downing Street shortly before its publication. Such was the conclusion of a controversial inquiry conducted by Lord Hutton. [The Hutton Report] [BBC News 27 January 2004; BBC News 2 September 2003; BBC News 30 October 2003; BBC News 13 May 2004]