Princess Diana's death in a Paris car crash was a "tragic accident" a long-awaited report concluded yesterday, dismissing theories of a murder plot by British intelligence.
Its author however admitted that conspiracy rumors will likely continue to circulate, despite his three-year inquiry coming to largely the same conclusions as a French probe seven years ago.
"There was no conspiracy to murder any occupants of that car. This was a tragic accident," said Lord John Stevens, the former commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, unveiling the 800-page report.
Stevens' inquiry also rejected speculation that Diana had been pregnant at the time of the crash in 1997.
"We are certain that the Princess of Wales was not pregnant," Stevens said, adding that he had also questioned numerous people, including Prince William, about the claim that the princess planned to marry her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed, who was also killed in the crash.
"None of them have indicated that she was either about to or wished to get engaged," he said, adding that Prince William had told him his mother did not give him the slightest indication of such intentions.
Even before the report was published, Dodi's father, Moham-med Al-Fayed had dismissed its leaked findings as "garbage," and insisted a conspiracy was behind the couple's death.
Fleeing photographers, Diana, 36, Dodi Al-Fayed, 42, and chauffeur Henri Paul, 41, were killed when their car smashed into a pillar in a Paris underpass in the early hours of Aug. 31, 1997.
Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived.
Fayed has long maintained that it was a conspiracy involving British intelligence agents, and notably said Paul's blood samples, which showed his blood-alcohol level at three times the French legal limit, were switched to falsely implicate him as drunk.
Stevens dismissed this yesterday, saying: "We are satisfied from DNA testing carried out on samples in France ... that those blood samples tested belong to Henri Paul."
Al-Fayed was adamant, however, and accused Stevens of being manipulated.
"He has just done what the British intelligence has asked for," Fayed said. "They blackmailed him, definitely."
While dismissing the murder plot allegations, Stevens admitted that in the Internet age it was almost impossible to persuade everyone of his report's findings.
"I have no doubt that speculation as to what happened that night will continue, and there are some matters, as in many other investigations, about which we will never find the definitive answer," he said.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
‘MONSTROUS CRIME’: The killings were overseen by a powerful gang leader who was convinced his son’s illness was caused by voodoo practitioners, a civil organization said Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” The killings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were overseen by a powerful gang leader convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, the civil organization the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) said. It was the latest act of extreme violence by powerful gangs that control most of the capital in the impoverished Caribbean country mired for decades in political instability, natural disasters and other woes. “He decided to cruelly punish all
RSS