Disbelief at the loss of 'honest, sensible and lovely fellow'

The quiet and calm of Westfield, the sprawling stone home of David Kelly, seems as far from the feverish atmosphere of Westminster committee rooms as it is possible to get.

In London, he was a respected weapons expert and government adviser, but in the Oxfordshire village of Kingston Bagpuize and Southmoor (population 1,900) he was the non-drinking member of the cribbage team for the Hind's Head pub who drove the van to away fixtures.

As helicopters from television companies flew over his home and cameras were set up outside the farm-style gate, villagers were reassessing their image of Dr Kelly, 59, and wondering why he walked the two miles to the bramble-covered hilltop copse where his body was found. Mounted police were at the scene and officers were seen in the fields around Harrowdown Hill, near the village of Longworth.

The body was discovered by the 50-strong search team, aided by the police helicopter. The area has been sealed off, the white tent that had covered the body barely visible.

The road through Longworth, past ivy-clad homes and the occasional thatched cottage, turns into a track which wends its way into the fields.

Dr Kelly and his wife, Janice, were well known in the village although they valued their privacy, neighbours said. Mrs Kelly was a member of the Women's Institute and local historical society, interviewing long-standing residents and writing a pamphlet about the village.

Yesterday she was at the three-storey home fronting on to the road running through the village. David Colby, a local vicar, visited for 30 minutes at lunchtime but left without comment.

Police guarded the entrance to the property, the well-tended gardens bounded by a high hedge and 10ft wall. A giant police communications mast, erected in the garden after Dr Kelly failed to return from his 3pm walk on Thursday, towered over the house which adjoins a converted stable block

In the village yesterday nobody had a bad word to say about Dr Kelly or his wife and their three daughters Sian, 32, and twins Rachel and Ellen, 30.

"He is the most straightforward, honest, most level-headed down-to-earth person you'd wish to come across; a lovely fellow," said Steve Ward, 47, the landlord of the Hind's Head, where Dr Kelly and his wife went frequently for a meal. Mr Ward said he was concerned that Dr Kelly had been made a scapegoat: "If he did commit suicide it is totally out of character. He is such a sensible and level-headed guy. He always seemed to be happy with his family and I can't think of anything else that may have contributed to the situation."

Mr Ward said he last spoke to Dr Kelly the previous Friday. "David phoned to say he couldn't come to the next cribbage card game on Monday," he recalled. "He told me briefly what had happened, mentioned the parliamentary inquiry but he seemed fine."

Another villager, Pat Curtis, of the Alpenhaus B&B, said: "They are a lovely family who are very much part of the community.

"They did a lot for it. They formed a local history society and produced publications on three local villages."

Opposite the Kelly home, at the Waggon and Horses pub, the landlord, Graham Atkins, summed up the thoughts of many in the village. "We just wish the family all the best," he said.