The private service will take place at 2 pm (1300 GMT) at Saint Mary's Church in Longworth, a town in Oxfordshire near to Kelly's home in Southmoor, Thames Valley Police said.

Kelly has been named as the source of a BBC report -- hotly denied by Prime Minister Tony Blair -- that the British government exaggerated the threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to war.

The former UN arms inspector was found dead with a slit wrist in woods a few miles from his home on July 18, a day after his wife reported him missing and three days after he appeared before a parliamentary committee.

A judicial inquiry into Kelly's death, ordered by Blair and led by Lord Brian Hutton, is to open Friday with a preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London.

WAR.WIRE