Were Kelly's comments a clue to his state of mind?

David Broucher: Permanent Representative at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva

It was a throwaway remark at a brief encounter in Geneva seven months ago, but its recounting yesterday added a new and chilling dimension to the inquiry into the lonely death of David Kelly.

David Broucher, a surprise late addition to those giving evidence, transfixed court 73 as he relived the parting words of the late weapons expert - that if war broke out in Iraq, he would "probably be found dead in the woods".

Mr Broucher, an eminent diplomat, is Britain's permanent representative at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. In a calm and matter-of-fact voice, he described his shock when he learnt that Dr Kelly had been found with his wrist slashed next to a wood near his home in Oxfordshire.

The revelation raised fresh questions about the scientist's state of mind, as well as how he died. Had he planned to take his own life months before he met his tragic end? Was he driven to his apparent suicide by his feeling of guilt over the war? Or was he, as Mr Broucher thought then, under a deadly threat from the Iraqis? Mr Broucher's disclosure of the conversation on 27 February will undoubtedly fuel conspiracy theories about the scientist's death. In one of his last e-mails before he set off on his final walk from home, Dr Kelly had told Judith Miller, a journalist on the New York Times, of "dark actors" at work.

Lord Hutton had said he would be taking evidence about Dr Kelly's physical and mental health. Although several witnesses have testified that he was suffering from stress after being in the spotlight, there have been no suggestions he had a psychological disorder.

Mr Broucher told the inquiry that he had met Dr Kelly because he was "keen to pick his brains because I knew he was a considerable expert on issues in relation to Iraq". It was part of Mr Broucher's job to "sell" the dossier to officials at the UN, many of whom found it "unconvincing".

In their hour-long conversation, they talked about the history of Iraq's biological weapons and what Dr Kelly thought about the possibility of an invasion. It became apparent that the weapons expert had grave reservations about the Government's case for war.

Mr Broucher said: "As far as I can recall, he felt that if Iraq had any biological weaponry left it would not be very much. He also said that ... the 'fill' for the weapons was kept separately from the munitions and that meant the weapons could not be used quickly." This, in effect, meant Dr Kelly did not believe Downing Street's claim in the September dossier that Saddam Hussein could launch chemical and biological attacks within 45 minutes.

Dr Kelly, a former UN inspector who had made 37 trips to Iraq, also told Mr Broucher that he maintained secret contacts with senior officials in the Iraqi regime. "He said he tried to reassure them that if they co-operated with the weapons inspectors they had nothing to fear," Mr Broucher said. "He thought he was in some personal difficulty over this because he felt the invasion might go ahead anyway and somehow this put him in a morally ambiguous position."

Mr Broucher said he had asked Dr Kelly what would happen if war broke out. "His reply was, which I took at the time to be a throwaway remark, 'I will probably be found dead in the woods'. I didn't report it at the time ... because I didn't attribute any particular significance to it. I thought he might have meant that he was at risk of being attacked by the Iraqis in some way," he said.

After Dr Kelly's death, Mr Broucher sent an e-mail to one of the scientist's superiors, Patrick Lamb, saying: "I may have something relevant to contribute ... In a conversation in Geneva ... [Dr Kelly] had said his Iraqi contacts had pointed out to him that revealing too much about their state of readiness might well heighten the risk they will be attacked. To gain their trust he had been obliged to assure them that if they complied with the weapons inspectors' demands, they will not be.

"The implication was that if an invasion went ahead that would make him look a liar and he would have betrayed his contacts, some of whom might be killed as a direct result."