THE family of weapons inspector David Kelly were forced to dig up and move his body after conspiracy theorists ‘desecrated’ his grave, a national newspaper reported.

Dr Kelly was buried at St Mary’s Parish Church in Longworth, near Abingdon, where campaigners placed a placard calling for an inquest.

Vigils were also held and leaflets left on the grave site. 

The Sunday Times cited sources close to Dr Kelly’s family who said his widow Janice ‘hated’ the actions of the campaigners.

The body was moved in July and cremated.

Dr Kelly died in 2003, aged 59, after he was identified as the source of a BBC story about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

He had expressed doubts about Iraq’s capability to use biological and chemical weapons within 45 minutes of being given an order. The comments appeared in a report by reporter Andrew Gilligan and appeared to contradict the Labour Government’s dossier on weapons of mass destruction, which was used as the basis of a case for going to war in Iraq.

Dr Kelly's body was found on July 18 at Harrowdown Hill – just over a mile away from Longworth and visible from the church. His left wrist had been cut.

The original inquest into Dr Kelly’s death was opened and adjourned, and the then-Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer ordered Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Gardiner to adjourn it indefinitely, saying the Hutton Inquiry would fulfil its function instead.

In March 2004 Mr Gardiner announced that, after considering the Hutton report, there was “no exceptional reason” for the inquest to be resumed.

The inquiry said Dr Kelly’s death was suicide.

However campaigners, including Gerrard Jonas, of Fernham near Faringdon, have called for a full inquest into his death at Oxford Coroner’s Court.

In an interview with the Oxford Mail in 2012, Mr Gardiner said: “I was never under any political pressure.

“Whatever conspiracy theories people bring forward – and I think they will be brought forward forever – I don’t think I would have done anything differently.”