London: Police on July 18 said a body found in Central England matches the description of David Kelly, the government adviser named as the possible source for the BBC's report claiming the government "sexed up" a key intelligence dossier on Iraq.

"The body found matches the description of David Kelly, but the body has not yet been formally identified," a Thames Valley police spokesman said.

Earlier, police had reported finding a man's body eight kms from Kelly's home.

Fifty-nine-year-old Kelly went missing from his home in Abingdom, Oxfordshire, on July 17 afternoon, after telling his wife he was going for a walk, the Thames Valley police said.

Kelly's family contacted the police when he had failed to return by 23:45 hours on July 17, two days after he gave evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry into the dossier affair.

PTI