A British jury decides Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed were
unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of their chauffeur and
paparazzi photographers pursuing them into a Paris road tunnel 10 years ago.


LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (APRIL 7, 2008) (ITN)

Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed were unlawfully killed by
the grossly negligent driving of their chauffeur and paparazzi photographers
pursuing them into a Paris road tunnel 10 years ago, an inquest ruled pn
Monday (April 7).
    The jury reached their decision after deliberating for four days in a
case that had sparked worldwide media interest.
    "I think we now have to soberly reflect on the clear verdict, and
wish and hope that this now brings some sort of closure," said Paul
Stephenson, Deputy Commissioner Metropolitan Police Service outside the High
Court in London.
    A decade after the death of the world's most photographed woman at 36,
Britain's former police chief said he hoped this would finally bring closure
to the tragedy and lay to rest conspiracy theories swirling around the case.

    "The verdict has been clear. They have said that they are
absolutely sure that there is no conspiracy in relation to this matter. I do
hope everybody will take this verdict as being closure to this particular
tragic incident, and the people who died will be allowed to rest in
peace," said Stevens.
    On the evening they died, Diana and Dodi fled from the back entrance of
the Ritz Hotel in Paris in a futile effort to avoid swarms of paparazzi
photographers.
    They pursued the couple on high-powered motorbikes into the Alma tunnel
and took pictures of the dying princess in the wrecked Mercedes after it
smashed into pillar 13.
    Dodi's father, luxury store owner Mohamed al-Fayed, had accused Queen
Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip, Diana's former father-in-law, of ordering
British security services to kill her and stop her marrying a Muslim and
having his baby.
    In a statement after the judgment, al-Fayed said: "I'm not the
only person who said they were murdered. Diana predicted that she would be
murdered and how it would happen. So I am disappointed."
    He insisted the Queen and her husband should have been called as
witnesses. "No one should be above the law."
    "I have always believed that Prince Philip and the Queen hold
valuable evidence that only they know."
    Henri Paul, the chauffeur, was an employee of the Ritz Hotel, owned by
Fayed. Paul died in the crash. 
    The presiding judge, Lord Justice Scott Baker, had specifically
instructed the inquest jury to reject conspiracy theories that it was a staged
accident.
    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 being drunk and driving too fast.
    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.