A WESTCOUNTRY doctor is leading fresh calls for a formal inquest to be held into the death of Government scientist David Kelly.

Retired orthopaedic surgeon David Halpin, who lives on the edge of Dartmoor, is among a group of doctors arguing that the Hutton Inquiry's finding of suicide was flawed and have handed it to lawyers preparing a legal challenge.

Dr Kelly's body was found six years ago on Friday in woods near his Oxfordshire home after he was exposed as the source of a BBC report on the grounds for going to war in Iraq.

Instead of a coroner's inquest, Lord Hutton was asked by then Prime Minister Tony Blair to conduct an investigation. His inquiry concluded the 59-year-old died from blood loss as a result of cutting his wrist with a blunt gardening knife.

However, Mr Halpin, who also used to work at Torbay Hospital and the former Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital in Exeter, and a dozen other medical specialists believe a cut to the ulnar artery was "highly unlikely" to have caused enough bleeding to kill Dr Kelly.

Mr Halpin said they had examined "the possibility of haemorrhage as being the primary cause of his death in microscopic detail".

Previous examinations into Dr Kelly's death were "flawed", he argued.

Lord Hutton was charged with inquiring into the circumstances surrounding the death and not the cause itself and his inquiry did not have the same legal standards as a coroner's inquest, he said.

"Due process has been subverted," he said. "The group that I am part of is not prepared to let that go. There is evidence of a cover-up."

Mr Halpin, 69, described Dr Kelly as a "skilled" and "courageous" man who deserved a "proper inquest".

He said: "He was a very prominent germ and chemical warfare expert. That is relevant because of his knowledge of the biology of death.

"He had spent 10 years at Porton Down (a Government laboratory) and he knew everything about killing things. So to take what was said to be a blunt knife and what was alleged to be his wife's co-proxamol tablets to try to kill himself is extraordinary. I think it's highly likely he was assassinated."

Mr Halpin said the group had already written to the Attorney General Baroness Scotland, asking her to release Dr Kelly's autopsy reports, without a satisfactory response.

The doctors plan to send their new dossier in the hope she will change her mind. They have also hired Martin Day, of Leigh Day and Co, and received advice from barrister Richard Hermer, QC, both of whom have a strong track record in civil liberties cases.

They intend to use the Coroners Act to challenge the decision to suspend the original inquest.

The report setting out their rejection of the theory Dr Kelly died of a haemorrhage will also be sent to Sir John Chilcot's forthcoming inquiry into the Iraq War.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who published a book about Dr Kelly's death two years ago, backed the doctors' campaign.

He said: "There are three aspects of 2003 which need to be put to bed.

"There needs to be a proper inquiry into the Iraq War, there needs to be a proper inquest into Dr Kelly's death and there needs to be some recognition of his outstanding work.

"All we are asking for is proper legal process – we have not had it yet."