Princess Diana 'not murdered'
Princess Diana died aged 36
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Thursday, 14, Dec 2006 08:12
Princess Diana died as a result of a "tragic accident" and allegations that she was murdered are "unfounded", a police inquiry has concluded.
Today's report after a three-year investigation by former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens says that there is no evidence to support claims that the princess and her partner Dodi al-Fayed were murdered by the British establishment.
The Princess of Wales, 36, and her partner Dodi al-Fayed, 42, died when the Mercedes they were travelling in struck the 13th central pillar of the Alma Bridge underpass in Paris on August 31st 1997.
Henri Paul, the couple's driver and an employee of the Ritz hotel from which they had just left, also died in the crash, while the third passenger, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, survived.
"Our conclusion is that, on all the evidence available at this time, there was no conspiracy to murder any of the occupants of the car. This was a tragic accident," Lord Stevens today said.
Mohamed al-Fayed, Dodi's father, has consistently claimed that the deaths of Princess Diana and his son were instigated to prevent the princess from marrying a Muslim.
Mr al-Fayed insists that the Princess of Wales was pregnant and that his son planned to propose on the night his death.
But today's 842-page report, which was launched when the inquiry into Princess Diana's death began at the beginning of 2004, fundamentally denies both of these claims.
After talking to Royal family members such as Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Prince William, as well as close friends of Princess Diana, Lord Stevens today said that he was "certain that the Princess of Wales was not pregnant at the time of her death. Our conclusions were strengthened by forensic tests carried out on blood recovered from the Mercedes car".
"From the evidence of her close friends and associates, she was not engaged and she was not about to get engaged," he added.
Mr al-Fayed has said he plans to pay no attention to today's report, accusing the evidence it is based upon of being "made up just to make it convenient for the terrorists and the gangsters who murdered my son".
And regarding Lord Stevens himself he added: "I don't trust him. I will ignore it because it is complete rubbish. He has betrayed me and he has betrayed the country."
When quizzed on these fresh claims of a whitewash at today's London press conference, Lord Stevens described Mr al-Fayed as a "genuinely grieving parent", adding that he is "entitled to say what he has, but I make no comment on it whatsoever apart from that".
A two-year French investigation has already concluded that the fatal crash was caused by the lethal cocktail of alcohol and prescription drugs consumed by Mr Paul, but today's report also cited the role played by the paparazzi who chased the Mercedes after it left the Ritz hotel.
Lord Stevens said that prior to the fatal crash, the car was travelling at between 61 and 63mph, twice the speed limit in the designated section of the underpass, but he insisted that "what exactly happened at the end of that journey is a matter for the inquests to decide".
"However, we conclude that nothing in the very rapid sequence of events we have reconstructed supports the allegation of conspiracy to murder," he said.
Lady Elizabeth Butler-Sloss will conduct the inquiry previously started by Queen's coroner Michael Burgess in the new year.
Today's report confirmed that the Mercedes had been involved in a "glancing contact" with a white Fiat Uno prior to entering the Alma underpass, but denied that it was driven or owned by French photojournalist James Andanson, as conspiracy theorists had alleged. Mr Andanson committed suicide in May 2000.
In conclusion Lord Stevens urged members of the public to read the full report, although he admitted that "speculation as to what happened that night will continue and that there are some matters, as in many other investigations, about which we may never find a definitive answer".
"I very much hope that all the work we have done and the publication of this report will help to bring some closure to all who continue to mourn the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi al-Fayed and Henri Paul," he concluded.