Lord Hutton - a liar or an incompetent?

Lord Hutton, in writing his Report following the completion of the Inquiry, attempts to deal with the inconsistencies between different witness testimonies about events at Harrowdown Hill on the 18th July 2003.  Just to repeat again part of 151 in Chapter 5:

I have seen a photograph of Dr Kelly's body in the wood which shows that most of his body was lying on the ground but that his head was slumped against the base of the tree - therefore a witness could say either that the body was lying on the ground or slumped against the tree.   

Unfortunately Lord Hutton didn't know who took this photo 'but it is likely to be a police photographer'.  At least this is what he says in reply to a question from Norman Baker as recorded in Mr Baker's book.  Well one would expect that as I assume that all the police photos taken on the 18th would  be submitted to the Inquiry.  We know that PC Sawyer took a number of photos on his arrival at the scene at about 10 o'clock  and that later that morning Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCOs) appeared and in the "forensic" phase doubtless more pictures were taken prior to the necessary but limited movement of Dr Kelly when Dr Hunt examined him. 

At this point it's worth reading an entry by Andrew Watt on his Chilcot's Cheating Us blog of 16 December  http://chilcotscheatingus.blogspot.com/2010/12/death-of-david-kelly-evidence-that-it.html and to read the comments following it, particularly from "Lancashire Lad".  You will see that LL has itemised some of the evidence from the Inquiry from PC Sawyer and from DC Coe and contrasted them.  DC Coe's position is that once PCs Franklin and Sawyer appear on scene the former of these two PCs takes over responsibility and that he, Coe, has nothing further to do with the investigation that day.  PC Sawyer's take is somewhat different suggesting that he and PC Franklin went back down the track to bring their Land Rover up whilst leaving DC Coe and colleagues guarding the body. 

As an aside here why was it necessary for both the PCs to return to their vehicle to drive it up closer (I'm not clear from the evidence as to whether they just brought the Land Rover further up the track at this stage or started using the field immediately to the east of the wood - the field with the white tent that was to become familiar in media reports).  If I had been PC Franklin my natural desire in taking things over would be to stay with the body and detail PC Sawyer to drive up the lane. 

Now Lancashire Lad makes the very valid point that perhaps here was an opportunity for DC Coe to pull the body back toward the tree if he was so minded and that new position is what the forensic photographer recorded and the same photo that Lord Hutton subsequently saw and commented on.  The problem here for me is that such an act by DC Coe would be fraught with peril - he would know that the photographic record would prove that the body had been moved and that PCs Franklin and Sawyer would be aware of this and then become part of a conspiracy (assuming that they weren't before of course).  Another movement of the body after the ambulance crew leave the site is possible in my opinion rather than probable.   I can't remember where I saw it but think I read somewhere about Mr Coe now recalling that yes Dr Kelly's head was against the bottom of the tree, rather like Lord Hutton's description by the sound of it!

Subsequent to the Inquiry the ambulance crew of Vanessa Hunt and Dave Bartlett have thankfully expanded our knowledge of the situation at Harrowdown Hill and we now know that there was space between Dr Kelly's head in which Mr Bartlett could stand.   If Lord Hutton was looking at one of PC Sawyer's photos and used this sighting as the basis of his remark in Chapter 5 of the Report then I believe that he is clearly guilty of lying.   If we give him the benefit of the doubt and admit there were photos of Dr Kelly in different positions then it is possible that he saw a photo as he described.  But if he was doing his job competently then surely he would have had a look at all the photos lodged and picked up on the fact that there was a discrepancy between the photos taken at the "discovery" stage and those taken later at the "forensic" stage.

I think what may have surprised Hutton is firstly that the ambulance crew had the honesty and integrity to go public over their concerns when they saw conclusions not making sense and secondly that there are some of us out here who just don't meekly accept what other people say when we see things that are just plain wrong.