This petition was submitted during the 2015-2017 parliament
Rejected petition Open a full and extensive judicial inquest into the death of Dr. David Kelly.
To petition parliament to open a proper judicial inquest into the death of Dr. David Kelly, based upon the fact that there is a clear prima facie case for 3rd party involvement, partly due to factual evidence obtained in a 2007 FOIA request (no fingerprints on the pruning knife, full or partials).
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An inquiry was carried out by Lord Hutton, however an inquiry does not have the same kinds of legal powers as an inquest (no ability to subpoena witnesses or hold people under oath, etc).
A legal inquest should have been opened instead, as this is one of the only examples of a death of a single person of this kind where an inquest was NOT called.
Based upon the body of evidence, particularly the lack of fingerprints (a physical impossibility) on the knife, the inquiry was inadequate.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
The Government and Parliament do not have the power to open an inquest. That is a decision for the coroner, who is independent of the Government and Parliament.
The Attorney General (who is a Government Minister) can ask the High Court to consider whether there should be a new investigation into a death, and to overturn the decision made by the original inquest. The High Court decides independently whether this should happen.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.