BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan on Friday resigned in the wake of the criticism directed against him in the Lord Hutton report into the death of British scientist and weapons expert Dr David Kelly.

Dr Kelly was his source for the story on the British government exaggerating threats from the Saddam Hussein regime in order to make a case for war.

The Full Hutton Report

"Some of my story was wrong, as I admitted at the inquiry, and I again apologise for it," he said in a statement.

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"The government did sex up the dossier, transforming possibilities and probabilities into certainties, removing vital caveats; the 45-minute claim was the 'classic example' of this; and many in the intelligence services, including the leading expert in WMD, were unhappy about it."

He also criticised Lord Hutton's "unbalanced judgements". "If Lord Hutton had fairly considered the evidence he heard, he would have concluded that most of my story was right."

He said the report has "imposed on the BBC a punishment far out of proportion to its or my mistakes, which were honest ones."

Earlier, departing BBC director general Greg Dyke said he was shocked by the findings of inquiry.

Lord Hutton had "given the benefit of doubt to every government witness and not to any at the BBC".