Diana unlawfully killed, inquest rules

Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed were unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and paparazzi photographers pursuing their limousine into a Paris road tunnel in 1997, an inquest decided today. The jury, which had spent almost six months listening to more than 250 witnesses from around the world, reached their decision after deliberating for four days.

The presiding judge, Lord Justice Scott Baker, had specifically instructed them to reject conspiracy theories that the accident was staged. The inquest, estimated to have cost up to $20 million, stretched around the globe with witnesses heard by video link from France, the United States, Nigeria, Kenya and Australia.

Dodi's father, luxury storeowner Mohamed al-Fayed, charged that his son and Diana were killed by British security services on the orders of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband and Diana's former father-in-law. Fayed believes her killing was ordered because the royal family did not want the mother of the future king having a child with his son. He alleges Diana's body was embalmed to cover up evidence she was expecting a baby. But Scott Baker said Fayed's conspiracy theory was "without substance".

Few details of Diana's private life were spared as friends, family, faith healers, spies, bodyguards, police chiefs and butlers were called to give their opinion at an inquest that sparked worldwide media interest. It was delayed for 10 years because Britain had to wait for the French legal process and then a British police investigation to run their course before it could begin.

Both police inquiries concluded the crash was a tragic accident caused by Paul, who was drunk and driving too fast. Paul was employed by Fayed at his Ritz Hotel in Paris. Under British law, an inquest is needed to determine the cause of death when someone dies unnaturally.

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