From:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/31/2204117.htm?section=justin
Posted March 31, 2008 21:15:00
The coroner hearing an inquest into the death of Princess Diana in a car
crash said there was no evidence that her former father-in-law, the Duke
of
Edinburgh, had "ordered Diana's execution".
Princess Diana died in a crash in Paris in 1997 along with Dodi Al-Fayed,
whose father Mohammed Al-Fayed has accused Queen Elizabeth's husband
Prince
Philip of being behind her death.
After almost six months of listening to more than 250 witnesses, Lord
Justice Scott Baker told the jury in his summing up: "There is no evidence
that the Duke of Edinburgh ordered Diana's execution and there is no
evidence that the security intelligence services or any other government
agency organised it."
The coroner added many of Mohammed Al-Fayed's theories were "demonstrably
without foundation".
"Various propositions ... have been shown to be so demonstrably without
foundation that they are no longer being pursued by Mohammed Al-Fayed's
lawyer, even if he still continues to believe in their truth in his own
mind," he said.
"They are not being pursued because there is not a shred of evidence to
sup****t them.
"Foremost among them is the proposition that Diana was assassinated by the
secret intelligence service (MI6) on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh."
The inquest 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 decided it was a tragic accident because chauffeur
Henri Paul was drunk and driving too fast.
But Mohammed Al-Fayed has repeatedly alleged that his son and Diana were
killed by British security services on the orders of Prince Philip because
the royal family did not want the mother of the future king having a child
with his son.
He has also alleged that Diana's body was embalmed to cover up evidence
she
was expecting a baby.
- Reuters/AFP
