Oz paparazzo supremo reveals Diana bomb threat

London, March 5 : A bomb threat was sent to an Australian paparazzi king's London office days after Princess Diana died in the fatal car crash in Paris in August 1997, the inquest into her death has heard.

Darryn Lyons told the inquest that he returned to his London offices in September 5, 1997, believing there'd been a break-in and that a bomb had been planted.

Lyons, who has made his name in the UK as one of the most high-profile paparazzi and chair of celebrity picture agency Big Pictures, gave evidence y videolink from Sydney.

He told the jury that the power was out, he could hear ticking noises and he could see a suspicious fuzzy light, probably a torch.

He revealed that he was worried and scared because the day after Diana died someone had phoned a death threat to the office.

"You killed Diana, we are going to kill you, we are going to blow up your building,'' the caller said.

Nicholas Hilliard, for the coroner, noted that police computer records say the "ticking sound was clocks ticking in the newsroom'' and the light may have been a computer that had been left on.

Of the ticking Lyons said: "If that is what the police statement says, that could well be the case, sir. There certainly were several clocks up on the newsroom wall, behind quite a solid glass panel, from all our country destinations and offices round the world, whether it be Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, London and Tokyo.''

But of the light, he pointed: "The strange thing was that the power was completely cut out (in the building but not the rest of the street)''.

Within hours of the deaths of Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed, low resolution and unusable images were sent to various publications and magazines but when her death was confirmed, all were rung and told that none of the photographs were to be used, Lyons said.

The hearing was adjourned until Thursday.

ANI