UK police probe to quash Diana theories

LONDON, Dec 14: A British police inquiry into Princess Diana's death is expected to rule out foul play today and seek to bury conspiracy theories of a murder plot that have abounded for almost a decade.

The finger of blame has been pointed at everyone from her ex-husband, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, to Britain's secret service.

But, after a three-year inquiry, security experts believe that Britain's former top police officer Sir John Stevens will rule that she died in a Paris car crash because chauffeur Henri Paul was drunk and driving too fast.

ITV television news said Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, had been shown a copy of Stevens' report and were ''devastated and disgusted'' by the way paparazzi who had been chasing the car photographed her as she lay dying.

Even before the report was published, the father of Diana's lover Dodi al Fayed railed against its findings, calling them ''outrageous'' and claiming Stevens had been blackmailed by British intelligence chiefs into ruling out foul play.

Harrods department storeowner Mohamed al Fayed, who wants a public inquiry into the crash, claims his son and Diana were murdered by British secret services because their relationship was embarrassing the British royal family.

Before the probe's findings were revealed, the plot thickened even further with claims in British tabloids that American spies monitored the phone in Diana's Ritz Hotel room without the knowledge of their British spy counterparts.

''Rubbish'' was the curt reaction from the CIA.

Diana, Fayed and their chauffeur Henri Paul died when their Mercedes limousine smashed into a wall in a Paris road tunnel in 1997.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

A two-year French inquiry blamed the crash on Paul, saying he was drunk, under the influence of anti-depressants and driving too fast.

The British inquest was opened in January 2004 and then royal coroner Michael Burgess asked police to hold a top-level investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

He said he wanted Stevens to examine conspiracy theories that have constantly bedevilled the case.

Al Fayed, speaking on NBC's ''Today'' Show, said his son had bought an engagement ring for Diana and that she had told him hours before the crash that she was pregnant.

Whatever happened to the Fiat Uno is another question constantly posed by conspiracy theorists.

Paul swerved to avoid the mysterious Fiat Uno just before the crash. It has never been found.

And further fuel was added to the fire by Diana's butler Paul Burrell, the man she called ''My Rock.'' Diana said in a letter written to Burrell 10 months before her death ''My husband is planning an accident in my car, brake failure and serious head injury.'' British and French authorities hope the Stevens report will at long last bring closure but, with his grief still fuelled by rage, al Fayed shows no signs of ever giving up.

REUTERS

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