Hutton orders leak investigation

Lord Hutton today ordered "an urgent investigation" into the leaking of his findings on the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly to The Sun newspaper.

A spokesman for the Hutton Inquiry said the probe would include the six parties to the inquiry who were given copies of his report 24 hours before publication, its printers and the inquiry team itself.

The solicitor to the inquiry, Martin Smith, has been ordered to establish what happened to each copy of the report and who had access to it before publication.

The judge will decide his next steps once that investigation has been completed.

The Sun's political editor Trevor Kavanagh published extracts of the report's main conclusions yesterday morning hours before Lord Hutton began reading a public summary of his findings.

The inquiry spokesman said: "Following the disclosure by The Sun newspaper of some of the conclusions of Lord Hutton's report before its publication, Lord
Hutton has put in train an urgent investigation into the handling of those copies of the report released to the parties to the inquiry in advance of publication.

"This will also include the handling of the report by the inquiry itself and by the printers.

"The solicitor to the inquiry, Martin Smith, will establish an audit trail of copies of the report and those who had access to them before its publication.

"In the light of the outcome Lord Hutton will review what further steps he might take."

Prime Minister Tony Blair and Tory leader Michael Howard have called for an inquiry into the leak.