Paul Burrell's wife's outrage at his refusal to return to Di inquest

London, March 8 : Princess Diana's ex butler Paul Burrell's refusal to return to the ongoing inquest into her death has forced his wife to fly down from London to Florida for crisis talks over his shameless behaviour.

Burrell, who describes himself as 'Diana's rock,' had been ordered to return to the London High Court from his Florida home by coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker after he was secretly taped confessing that he had not told the "whole truth" to the inquest.

However, the 49-year-old has until now refused to face perjury allegations, and is holed up in his Florida home.

This has compelled Burrell's heartbroken wife Maria to fly more than 4,000 miles for crisis talks over his blatant lies to Princess Diana's inquest.

"Maria is horrified and devastated at the way Paul has behaved. She is a devout Catholic and is feeling a huge amount of shame over this," The Sun quoted a family source, as saying.

"She has pleaded with him to do the honourable thing and go back to explain himself to the inquest - but he won't do it. While Maria says she will stand by her husband, she has told him in no uncertain terms that he has got to stop lying and cheating," the source added.

According to other family sources, Burrell is "unrepentant and angry, and doesn't feel like he has to explain himself".

They say that he has refused to listen to Maria's pleas for him to go back and face up to his actions.

"Paul says he has no plans to go anywhere near Britain again. His life is in America now and he doesn't have to explain himself to the British public. He wants to carry on selling his furniture and wine in peace," a source said.

Burrell was secretly taped in New York boasting that he had deceived the inquest during his three days in the witness box with "a couple of red herrings".

"Perjury is not a very nice thing to have to consider. I didn't tell the whole truth. When you swear on oath you swear an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," Burrell said in the tape.

"I told the truth as far as I could. But I didn't tell the whole truth. Do you honestly think I have told everyone everything I know? Of course I haven't. I was very naughty and I laid a couple of red herrings.

I couldn't help but do it. And I know you shouldn't play with justice and I know it's illegal. I realise how serious it is - but all through since the princess died I have measured what I have said gradually and carefully," he added.

Burrell has consequently denied lying to the inquest, saying that he made the comments in New York when he was "tired and depressed."

ANI