Diana: No murder, no pregnancy

MM , Ohio: Dec 14 2006

Diana: No murder, no pregnancy

POSTED: 8:31 a.m. EST, December 14, 2006
Story Highlights NEW: Princess Diana’s death was a tragic accident says inquiry
- No conspiracy to murder says inquiry chief Lord Stevens
- She was not pregnant or engaged or planning to be engaged, Stevens says
- Mohamed al Fayed says he is “only person to know the truth”
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LONDON, England (CNN) — Claims that Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed were murdered were unfounded, the official Scotland Yard inquiry said Thursday.

Lord Stevens, who headed the inquiry, told a news conference that Diana was not pregnant at the time of the crash. Nor was she engaged or about to get engaged to Fayed.

There is nothing to justify further inquiry with members of the British royal family, Stevens, the former head of Scotland Yard, told reporters in London.

The long-running British police inquiry, seeking to bury almost a decade of conspiracy theories, on Thursday ruled that the princess died in a tragic car accident. (Report overview — 89KB PDF)

“I’m satisfied that no attempt has been made to hold back information and we are confident that the allegations made are unfounded,” former Scotland Yard chief Stevens said after a three-year probe into Diana’s death in a Paris road tunnel in August 1997.

“On the evidence available now, there was no conspiracy to murder any of the occupants of that car. This was a tragic accident,” Stevens told reporters.

Diana, 36, and 42-year-old Fayed were killed when their Mercedes crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in the early hours of August 31, 1997.

The couple had been pursued by paparazzi photographers after leaving the Ritz Hotel for Fayed’s apartment.

They were killed along with chauffeur Henri Paul. Paul was drunk and driving at twice the speed limit before the crash, Stevens said.

Stevens noted allegations by Fayed’s father, Mohamed al Fayed, the couple was killed as a result of a conspiracy by the establishment, including Prince Philip and British intelligence agencies.

Stevens added that photographers had prompted Diana and Fayed to change travel plans before their death.

Diana’s death unleashed a string of conspiracy theories that British spies or even her ex-husband, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, had plotted the accident because the couple’s relationship was embarrassing the royal household.

The top-level police investigation was ordered by former Royal Coroner Michael Burgess in January 2004 when he opened a British inquest into Diana’s death.

Stevens told how he had interviewed Prince Charles for several hours as part of his inquiry which he said aims to draw a line under the issue.

Earlier British media reports said that Princes William and Harry were “deeply upset” at the behavior of the paparazzi as their mother Princess Diana lay dying.

The brothers were briefed in advance on the outcome of Stevens’ investigation.

William, 24, and 22-year-old Harry were described as “distressed and angry” after learning in full of the photographers’ behavior after the 1997 crash.

French paparazzi took pictures of their mother as she lay fatally wounded in the wrecked Mercedes at the scene as emergency workers battled to save her.

A source told the UK’s Press Association: “They feel very strongly about it and it has upset them.”

The princes’ distress has been heightened by the attention their girlfriends Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy have faced in recent times.

In 1999, the French investigation formally cleared nine photographers and a press motorcyclist of manslaughter charges.

In February this year, three photographers were convicted of breaching France’s privacy laws for taking pictures of Diana and Fayed on the night they died.

A symbolic fine of one euro (70p) was imposed on Jacques Langevin, Fabrice Chassery and Christian Martinez at the end of the long-running legal case.

Fayed’s father insisted he would not accept what he called the “shocking” police inquiry.

Mohamed al Fayed called himself “the only person who knows the truth” about the death of Diana and his son.

Al Fayed, who owns London’s famous Harrods department store, told the BBC: “How can I accept something really shocking? “I know deep in my heart that I’m the only person who knows the truth.”

Stevens said in January that his investigation was “far more complex than any of us thought.” He did not specify what he meant.

The British inquiry, which involved 15 police personnel and is estimated to have cost millions of dollars, used cutting-edge computer technology to reconstruct the crash scene in three dimensions, and examined the wrecked Mercedes in painstaking detail.

Stevens said U.S. officials had assured him that secretly recorded conversations in their possession shed no new light on her death.

The U.S. National Security Agency said Tuesday it had never targeted Diana’s communications, but acknowledged it had 39 classified documents containing references to the princess.

The publication of Stevens’ report will allow an inquest into Diana’s death finally to get under way.

The inquest is due to formally resume next year under a new coroner, retired senior judge, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss. Preliminary hearings will be held January 8-9 at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.