in the House of Commons by 316 votes to 311. 28 January – The Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Dr. David Kelly is published. This is taken by most of the press to be a strong condemnation of the BBC's handling of the affair and to exonerate the government; the BBC's Director-General, Greg Dyke, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Gavyn Davies, and the journalist at the centre of the controversy, Andrew Gilligan, resign. The UK media, in general, condemns the report as a whitewash. February 1 February – Media sources and victim support groups across Britain condemn the £11,000 payouts to the families of the two girls who were murdered at Soham in August 2002 as a "pittance". The compensation was paid out by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. 3 February – Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announces an independent inquiry, to be chaired by Lord Butler, to examine the reliability of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 5–6 February – A party of Chinese cockle pickers is caught by the tides at night in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, drowning 23 people. 21 bodies are recovered. 6 February – The Home Office confirms that Maxine Carr, convicted with Ian Huntley concerning the Soham murders of August 2002, could be released from prison in the next few days. 11 February – Richard Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express and Daily Star tabloids, confirms that he has made a bid for the troubled broadsheet The Daily Telegraph. 15 February – The government are reported to have drawn up plans to break up the BBC in the wake of the Hutton inquiry. 19 February – Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announces that five of the nine Britons held without trial as terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, along with a Danish national, are to be released. 21 February – Prime Minister Tony Blair comes under pressure from British human rights groups and MPs because of the government's sweeping powers under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, which have allowed the detention of fourteen foreign terrorist suspects in the UK at what has been described as "Britain's Guantanamo Bay". 24 February – The British Olympic Association prohibits European 100 metres champion Dwain Chambers from competing in the Olympic Games for life for a positive test for the designer steroid THG. 25 February – Katharine Gun,