Former top UK judge to head Princess Diana inquest

LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) One of Britain's most senior former judges is poised to take control of the inquest into Princess Diana's death, a newspaper said today.

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss will replace the royal coroner Michael Burgess, who withdrew from the case in July blaming his ''heavy and constant'' workload, the Times reported.

The inquest into the death of Diana, her companion Dodi al Fayed and their driver in a 1997 Paris car crash began in 2004.

Butler-Sloss will examine the circumstances surrounding the crash and evidence from an inquiry into their deaths headed by John Stevens, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, the report said.

A spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs would not confirm the appointment, saying it would be handled by Burgess.

A spokeswoman for his office said the report was ''pure speculation''.

A French inquiry in 1999 ruled that the princess's car crashed in a tunnel because her driver, Henri Paul, was drunk and driving too fast.

Despite that ruling, conspiracy theories continue to surround the case. Some British newspapers have repeatedly claimed that Diana and Dodi were killed.

Stevens was asked by the former coroner to examine the allegations. He said in January the investigation was ''far more complex than any of us thought''.

In January 2004, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper published a letter written by Diana before she died in which she said her husband Prince Charles was ''planning an accident'' to kill her.

Mohamed al Fayed, Dodi's father, has alleged his son and Diana were murdered by British secret services because their relationship was embarrassing the royal household.

Stella Rimington, former head of Britain's domestic spy agency, MI5, has dismissed the conspiracy theories as ''mad''.

Butler-Sloss became a high court judge in 1979 and was the first woman to join the Court of Appeal. She became President of the High Court Family Division in 1999.

REUTERS SSC BST1611