Meanwhile, Blair said Sunday he was ready to appear before a judicial probe into the death of 59-year-old senior U.N. weapons inspector.

"Of course there are things I will talk about to the inquiry, as will others," Blair said at a joint press conference in Seoul with South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun.

Lord Hutton has been picked to head an independent judicial inquiry into Kelly's death.

Following the summit with Roh which focused on the North Korean nuclear crisis, Blair told journalists that the probe should be allowed to uncover the facts of the case in an atmosphere of restraint and respect.

"But I think the right and proper process is that I speak to the judge who is the head of the inquiry in the way that other people will, that he is allowed to get on with his job, to establish the facts and then to give those facts and his judgment on them. I think that is the best way to proceed after a terrible, terrible tragedy," he said.

The grieving family of Kelly said last night the controversial Iraq dossier "made David's life intolerable."

"Events over recent weeks made David's life intolerable and all those involved should reflect long and hard on this fact," the Guardian daily quoted that family as saying in a statement on Sunday.

The family said they were "utterly devastated and heartbroken" by the death of "our husband, father and brother."

"We loved him very much and will miss his warmth, humor and humanity... A loving, private and dignified man has been taken from us all. Those who knew him will remember him for his devotion to his home, family and the community and countryside in which he lived," the statement said.

"David's professional life was characterized by his integrity, honor and dedication to finding the truth, often in the most difficult of circumstances. It is hard to comprehend the enormity of this tragedy."

The family - Kelly is survived by his wife Janice and three daughters - issued the statement hours after Superintendent David Purnell of Thames Valley police stood outside Wantage police station and said the scientist killed himself by cutting a wrist with a knife.

When Kelly's wife, Janice, spoke to a close friend of her husband's, the television journalist and author Tom Mangold, before the body was found she conceded that her husband had been furious at how he had been treated over the last two weeks.

"She said he was very stressed and unhappy about what had happened. This was really not the kind of world he wanted to live in," the Guardian quoted Mangold as saying.

The New York Times said Sunday that Kelly sent an email before his death to an unnamed journalist in which he told of "many dark actors playing games."

The words appeared to refer to officials at the Ministry of Defense and the U.K. intelligence agencies with whom he had sparred over interpretations of weapons reports, the Times added.

The Oxford-educated microbiologist, originally with a background in agricultural science, had been scientific adviser to the MoD's proliferation and arms control secretariat for more than three years.

He had risen through the ranks at the ministry's chemical research centre at Porton Down in Wiltshire to become head of microbiology. He led all inspections of Russian biological warfare facilities and worked as senior adviser on biological warfare in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War and visited that country 37 times during seven years as a weapons inspector.