BRITAIN: There was no family more private than the Kellys. There were few people more reserved and self-effacing than their father, Dr David Kelly, writes Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent in London.
There were not many daughters more devoted to their dad than Rachel Kelly.
There was no more idyllic existence, on the surface, than that of the Kellys, living in the Oxfordshire countryside, feeding their cats, tending their greenhouse, mowing their lawn. There was no man happier in his work than David Kelly, trekking off to New York, Geneva or the Middle East, promoting good causes such as disarmament and the United Nations. It was a type of domestic bliss. Apart from some grumbling about his pay grade, Dr Kelly had few complaints. He and his wife, Janice, were about to celebrate 37 years together. They had thoroughly enjoyed the wedding of their daughter Ellen in February and were looking forward to Rachel marrying in October.
But unknown to the Kellys, a tornado was heading their way which would tear the roof off their private existence. Suddenly they found themselves in the eye of a raging storm generated by a combination of the debate about the Iraqi war, the selfish concerns of politicians and bureaucrats and the ruthlessness of an avaricious media.
It was clear from yesterday's evidence that the family is still bewildered by it all. Janice Kelly described in harrowing, moment-by-moment terms the disintegration of her husband's personality in the face of the pressures piling on top of him. Shyer than a monk in an enclosed order, David Kelly was nevertheless one of the world's experts on Iraqi weapons and part of his job was briefing journalists on the topic.
Having made over 40 visits to Iraq he was obviously robust physically, but psychologically he was unprepared for what hit him in early July this year. An agent of Rupert Murdoch came to his door and offered to save him from the rest of the media mob if he would give his story to the Sunday Times.
Then this sensitive man got a call from his employers at the Ministry of Defence telling him to get out of his house in five minutes flat because the hacks and camera crews were on their way, en masse.
Rachel Kelly described her father's demeanour when he returned from hiding in Cornwall some days later: "I was actually quite distressed to see the hurt that I could see in his face. It was a particular look. There was a lot of distress and anxiety, perhaps a bit of humiliation. He was seeing his daughter for the first time since all this news about his work had broken and I was just very surprised. And he almost - he did not seem quite like a broken man, that is probably too strong a term, - but he was certainly very distressed but putting on quite a brave face. It was really that one look that gave me an insight as to how he was feeling."
Four days later he disappeared, apparently to slash his wrist with a knife he still kept from his boy scout days, and using his wife's arthritis painkillers to make it easy on himself. For the first time since the Hutton inquiry began, the full enormity of the tragedy it is investigating was brought home. It may well be that nothing since the very different Profumo inquiry in the early 1960s will have such impact on British politics and the media.
The process of government at the highest level seems in the light of these events like an empty and shallow game. Nor do the media emerge with any credit, as they arguably contributed as much if not more to this man's tragic end and the traumatisation of his unfortunate family.
What will happen now? Judging from the pursed lips of Lord Hutton, he is able to recognise a sorry situation when he sees one. Already we are hearing about changes in methods of political communication, but the same people seem to be writing the script.
It used to be said that an Englishman's home was his castle, but that certainly didn't apply to the Kellys. The extraordinary openness and transparency of the inquiry at least means that if the people have almost no secrets from the government and media, then at least the government and media have almost no secrets from the people.