Cidersomerset
22nd April 2012, 11:56
Suicide riddle of weapons expert who worked with David Kelly: Scientist tells wife
he is going for a walk, then takes his life in a field... just like his friend
Body of Dr Richard Holmes discovered in a field four miles from the Porton Down
defence establishment.Police said there were no suspicious circumstances in latest
case but revealed scientist was 'under a great deal of stress' He resigned from
Porton Down last month, but it is unclear why
A weapons expert who worked with Dr David Kelly at the Government’s secret
chemical warfare laboratory has been found dead in an apparent suicide.
In circumstances strongly reminiscent of Dr Kelly’s own mysterious death nine
years ago, the body of Dr Richard Holmes was discovered in a field four miles from
the Porton Down defence establishment in Wiltshire. It is not yet known how he
died.
Mr Holmes, 48, had gone missing two days earlier after telling his wife he was
going out for a walk – just as Dr Kelly did before he was found dead at an
Oxfordshire beauty spot in July 2003.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/21/article-2133201-12A27724000005DC-723_306x423.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/21/article-2133201-008B2F161000044C-978_306x423.jpg
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances in the latest case but revealed
that Dr Holmes had ‘recently been under a great deal of stress’.
He resigned from Porton Down last month, although the centre yesterday refused
to explain why.Inevitably, the parallels between the two cases will arouse the
suspicions of conspiracy theorists.
Despite Lord Hutton’s ruling eight years ago that Dr Kelly committed suicide, many
people – among them a group of doctors – believe his inquiry was insufficient and
have demanded a full inquest.
Some believe Dr Kelly, who kept an office at Porton Down right up until his death,
was murdered. He was outed as being the source of a BBC report that Downing
Street ‘sexed up’ evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction to justify going to
war.Although it is not clear if the two scientists were close, one source told The Mail
on Sunday that they were friendly when they worked at Porton Down in the Nineties.
At the time, Dr Holmes ran a project organising the installation of chemical
protection equipment in RAF Sentinel spy planes, while Dr Kelly was head of
microbiology and frequently toured the former Soviet Union as a weapons inspector.
After the first Gulf War, Dr Holmes is also thought to have worked on the
production of chemical protection suits for troops. In 1991 he was the joint author
of a scientific paper about an RAF chemical and biological protection system.
Yesterday, a Porton Down spokesman confirmed Dr Holmes had quit his job but
declined to comment further. ‘It is not our policy to speak openly about any
individual who works for us,’ she said.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/21/article-2133201-0042EA9A00000258-464_634x403.jpg
Before finding his body, Wiltshire Police made a public appeal for information but
warned people not to approach Dr Holmes for their own safety because they
believed he had been ‘looking at information on the internet regarding self-harm
and the use of toxic substances’.
Friends of Dr Holmes say this disclosure irritated his family, who questioned why a
scientist engaged in chemical warfare research would ‘need to Google toxic
substances’.
Dr Holmes’s widow, Susan, is a chemist who also works at Porton Down as head
of business administration.One of the Government’s most sensitive and secretive
military facilities, the site has long been the focus of controversy.
Three years ago hundreds of ex-servicemen who were used as chemical warfare
guinea pigs there between 1939 and 1989 were given compensation and an
apology from the Ministry of Defence.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/21/article-2133201-0069B56300000258-643_634x389.jpg
They were tested with the nerve agent sarin, but some of those involved claimed
they had been told they were taking part in cold-remedy trials.Many suffered
serious illnesses after exposure to the gas, which was developed by the Nazis
during the Second World War.An inquest into Dr Holmes’s death was opened and
adjourned by Wiltshire Coroner David Ridley last week. Coroner’s officer Paul
Tranter said Dr Holmes’s family had grown concerned for his wellbeing after he
failed to return from a walk on April 11.
A search party involving police and members of the other emergency services
began combing waste ground close to his home in the Bishopsdown area of
Salisbury.Police discovered his body half a mile away in a field used regularly by
dog-walkers and joggers in the village of Laverstock.Mr Tranter said the results of
tests carried out to establish the cause of death would not be known for several
weeks.He added: ‘Police do not consider this death to be suspicious in any way, nor
do they believe there was any third-party involvement.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133201/Dr-Richard-Holmes-Suicide-riddle-weapons-expert-worked-David-Kelly.html#ixzz1slkGxQti
Related Article to Dr.Kellys death...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303674/Dr-David-Kellys-cousin-claims-did-commit-suicide.html
he is going for a walk, then takes his life in a field... just like his friend
Body of Dr Richard Holmes discovered in a field four miles from the Porton Down
defence establishment.Police said there were no suspicious circumstances in latest
case but revealed scientist was 'under a great deal of stress' He resigned from
Porton Down last month, but it is unclear why
A weapons expert who worked with Dr David Kelly at the Government’s secret
chemical warfare laboratory has been found dead in an apparent suicide.
In circumstances strongly reminiscent of Dr Kelly’s own mysterious death nine
years ago, the body of Dr Richard Holmes was discovered in a field four miles from
the Porton Down defence establishment in Wiltshire. It is not yet known how he
died.
Mr Holmes, 48, had gone missing two days earlier after telling his wife he was
going out for a walk – just as Dr Kelly did before he was found dead at an
Oxfordshire beauty spot in July 2003.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/21/article-2133201-12A27724000005DC-723_306x423.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/21/article-2133201-008B2F161000044C-978_306x423.jpg
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances in the latest case but revealed
that Dr Holmes had ‘recently been under a great deal of stress’.
He resigned from Porton Down last month, although the centre yesterday refused
to explain why.Inevitably, the parallels between the two cases will arouse the
suspicions of conspiracy theorists.
Despite Lord Hutton’s ruling eight years ago that Dr Kelly committed suicide, many
people – among them a group of doctors – believe his inquiry was insufficient and
have demanded a full inquest.
Some believe Dr Kelly, who kept an office at Porton Down right up until his death,
was murdered. He was outed as being the source of a BBC report that Downing
Street ‘sexed up’ evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction to justify going to
war.Although it is not clear if the two scientists were close, one source told The Mail
on Sunday that they were friendly when they worked at Porton Down in the Nineties.
At the time, Dr Holmes ran a project organising the installation of chemical
protection equipment in RAF Sentinel spy planes, while Dr Kelly was head of
microbiology and frequently toured the former Soviet Union as a weapons inspector.
After the first Gulf War, Dr Holmes is also thought to have worked on the
production of chemical protection suits for troops. In 1991 he was the joint author
of a scientific paper about an RAF chemical and biological protection system.
Yesterday, a Porton Down spokesman confirmed Dr Holmes had quit his job but
declined to comment further. ‘It is not our policy to speak openly about any
individual who works for us,’ she said.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/21/article-2133201-0042EA9A00000258-464_634x403.jpg
Before finding his body, Wiltshire Police made a public appeal for information but
warned people not to approach Dr Holmes for their own safety because they
believed he had been ‘looking at information on the internet regarding self-harm
and the use of toxic substances’.
Friends of Dr Holmes say this disclosure irritated his family, who questioned why a
scientist engaged in chemical warfare research would ‘need to Google toxic
substances’.
Dr Holmes’s widow, Susan, is a chemist who also works at Porton Down as head
of business administration.One of the Government’s most sensitive and secretive
military facilities, the site has long been the focus of controversy.
Three years ago hundreds of ex-servicemen who were used as chemical warfare
guinea pigs there between 1939 and 1989 were given compensation and an
apology from the Ministry of Defence.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/21/article-2133201-0069B56300000258-643_634x389.jpg
They were tested with the nerve agent sarin, but some of those involved claimed
they had been told they were taking part in cold-remedy trials.Many suffered
serious illnesses after exposure to the gas, which was developed by the Nazis
during the Second World War.An inquest into Dr Holmes’s death was opened and
adjourned by Wiltshire Coroner David Ridley last week. Coroner’s officer Paul
Tranter said Dr Holmes’s family had grown concerned for his wellbeing after he
failed to return from a walk on April 11.
A search party involving police and members of the other emergency services
began combing waste ground close to his home in the Bishopsdown area of
Salisbury.Police discovered his body half a mile away in a field used regularly by
dog-walkers and joggers in the village of Laverstock.Mr Tranter said the results of
tests carried out to establish the cause of death would not be known for several
weeks.He added: ‘Police do not consider this death to be suspicious in any way, nor
do they believe there was any third-party involvement.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133201/Dr-Richard-Holmes-Suicide-riddle-weapons-expert-worked-David-Kelly.html#ixzz1slkGxQti
Related Article to Dr.Kellys death...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303674/Dr-David-Kellys-cousin-claims-did-commit-suicide.html