Paris tragedy: UK police assess new Diana death details

New information was received from parents-in-law of a former soldier.

LONDON:

British police said on Saturday that they were assessing new information about the deaths of Princess Diana and her friend Dodi al Fayed in a Paris road crash in 1997.

London’s Metropolitan Police did not elaborate on the information, or its source, but Britain’s Sky news television reported that it had come from the parents-in-law of a former soldier and had been passed on by the Royal Military Police.

In a statement the police said it was studying information into the deaths that it had recently received and was “assessing its relevance and credibility”.

“This is not a re-investigation and does not come under Operation Paget,” it said, referring to the police investigation into the allegations of murder.

Diana, Dodi and their chauffeur were killed when their car crashed in a road tunnel while being pursued by photographers after the couple left the Ritz hotel on August 31, 1997.



The police statement noted that the inquest jury had concluded their verdict as “unlawful killing, grossly negligent driving of the following vehicles and of the Mercedes (in which the couple were travelling).”

A royal spokeswoman said there would be no comment on the new information.

A 2008 inquest in London said the chauffeur, Henri Paul, and the photographers were to blame for the deaths.

Dodi’s father Mohammed al Fayed, has long claimed the couple was murdered.  In December 2006, Operation Paget concluded that there was no evidence of murder.  

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2013.