GIVEN Hillsborough and hacking, and the shocking allegations of corruption in areas of government and the police, it is so important to be vigilant about the concealment of the truth.

That’s why I joined supporters of the Dr David Kelly inquest campaign for a silent vigil at the Royal Courts of Justice last Friday. It was to mark the eleventh anniversary of the weapons inspector’s death, and to demand the rightful proper inquest he never received.

Many remain sceptical of the suicide finding of the Hutton Inquiry, but would trust a coroner-led inquest which subpoenaed all witnesses to testify under oath, with cross examination, and where all the evidence was transparently presented and examined, to allow for a verdict ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.

None of this operated in the Hutton Inquiry. The evidence that no fingerprints were found on the alleged suicide objects – the knife and the blister packs of coproxamol – as well as a part drunk water bottle, Dr Kelly’s mobile phone and his spectacles, was available at the time of the inquiry but was not publicly presented.

This would surely be inconceivable at a coroner’s inquest. That much important evidence was secretly hidden from the public for 70 years by Lord Hutton, is itself disturbing.

Only a full coroner’s inquest will examine all the evidence to ascertain how, where and when Dr Kelly died. Until then, campaigners will continue to protest annually for real, true British justice. And we will keep the flame alive for Dr Kelly.

Jayne Venables, Fylingdale Avenue, Clifton, York.