The death of weapons inspector David Kelly was "typical of self-inflicted injury", according to previously secret medical documents released today.

The postmortem report into his death found the main cause was bleeding from a wound to his wrist "entirely consistent with being inflicted with a bladed weapon".

The scientist's body was found in woods near his Oxfordshire home in July 2003 after he was identified as the source of a BBC story claiming the government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.

Lord Hutton, who conducted the inquiry into Kelly's death, found the scientist had committed suicide. However there have been numerous calls for another examination of the case amid persistent conspiracy theories about how Kelly may have died.

Today's reports undermine those who have questioned the official version of events, as the conclusions of the postmortem examination by Dr Nicholas Hunt matched those in Hutton's original report.

"It is my opinion that the main factor involved in bringing about the death of David Kelly is the bleeding from the incised wounds to his left wrist," said Hunt. "Had this not occurred he may well not have died at this time. "Furthermore, on the balance of probabilities, it is likely that the ingestion of an excess number of co-proxamol tablets coupled with apparently clinically silent coronary artery disease would both have played a part in bringing about death more certainly and more rapidly than would have otherwise been the case.

"Therefore I give as the cause of death: 1a. Haemorrhage; 1b Incised wounds to the left wrist; 2. Co-proxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis."

The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, said he had decided to publish the documents "in the interests of maintaining public confidence in the inquiry into how Dr Kelly came by his death".

"While I firmly believe that the publication of these documents is in the public interest, I am mindful that the contents may be distressing. I hope that the privacy of Dr Kelly's family will be respected at this difficult time."

Hutton had ruled that the report should remain secret for 70 years. He said this was done "solely in order to protect Dr Kelly's widow and daughters for the remainder of their lives (the daughters being in their twenties at that time) from the distress which they would suffer from further discussion of the details of Dr Kelly's death in the media".

"My request was not a concealment of evidence because every matter of relevance had been examined or was available for examination during the public inquiry.

"There was no secrecy surrounding the postmortem report because it had always been available for examination and questioning by counsel representing the interested parties during the inquiry."

Hutton said his inquiry was open and public and neither Kelly's family, the government nor the BBC "asked for leave to question or challenge by cross-examination" witnesses whose evidence "led to the conclusion that Dr Kelly had committed suicide and had not been murdered".

Doubts about the cause of Kelly's death resurfaced this summer when Hunt, a Home Office pathologist, said he would welcome a new inquest and a group of prominent medical figures signed a letter stating that the official explanation was "extremely unlikely".

To add to the controversy, Detective Constable Graham Coe, who found the body, said there had not been much blood at the scene.

However today's report found Kelly's arterial injury "resulted in the loss of a significant volume of blood as noted at the scene ... The orientation and arrangement of the wounds over the left wrist are typical of self-inflicted injury".

Calls for an inquest have come from Peter Kilfoyle, the former Labour minister, and Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat transport minister. Lord Howard of Lympne, the former Conservative leader, has also added his voice.

Today solicitor Peter Jacobsen, who has represented Kelly's family since 2003, said they had no comment to make.