According to Dr David Kelly's widow, the weapons expert felt betrayed by the British ministry of defence, which allowed his name to enter the public domain.

Janice Kelly, 58, on Monday told this via a video link to the Lord Hutton Inquiry, which is probing into her husband's death, at the high court in London.

She told the one-man inquiry that in July when it became clear that the name of her husband, who was the source for the BBC's report claiming the British government "sexed up" a key intelligence dossier on Iraq, was going to be made public, he said he felt "totally let down".

Janice said he had received a telephone call from the ministry of defence press office "to say that we ought to leave the house, and quickly, so that we would not be followed by the press".

She said her husband did not tell her if the MoD had made any other offers of support.

The couple packed and left within 10 minutes and checked into a hotel in Cornwall. "He was exceedingly upset. We both were very anxious, very stressed," she said, adding, "he didn't like becoming the story."

When he learnt through another phone call that he was to give evidence to the foreign affairs select committee, which would be televised, Janice said: "He was ballistic. He just did not like that idea at all.

"He felt... it would be a kind of continuation... of a reprimand in the public domain."

The inquiry is investigating the circumstances leading to the death of the scientist, whose body was found in near his Oxfordshire home.

The inquiry has heard that Dr Kelly underwent lengthy briefings before the appearances before the foreign affairs select committee.

Dr Kelly had accompanied Foreign Secretary Jack Straw at an earlier hearing of the foreign affairs select committee.

Janice told the inquiry that her husband was "deeply hurt" to learn that Straw was not satisfied with the technical support the weapons expert had given him.

Straw said he was upset that at the committee meeting "he had been accompanied by somebody so junior", she said.

Dr Kelly laughed upon hearing this, but "he was deeply, deeply hurt", she said.

She said her husband felt "he was being treated rather like a fly, I think was the phrase he used."