Di's former butler Burrell may face perjury probe

London, Mar 7 : Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell is facing a possible perjury investigation, after he refused to return to the UK to answer accusations that he lied when he gave evidence during the inquest into her death.

In a video tape filmed during a meeting in a New York hotel, the former royal butler was candid to a pal about the fact that he deliberately misled the coroner, High Court judge Lord Justice Scott Baker.

According to British paper The Sun, Burrell admitted that he threw in "red herrings" and held back facts during his testimony.

He is heard saying on the tape: "When you swear an oath, you have to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I told the truth as far as I could - but I didn't tell the whole truth."

"Perjury is not a nice thing to have to contemplate. I was very naughty and I made a couple of red herrings, and I couldn't help doing it. I know you shouldn't play with justice and I know it's illegal and I realise how serious it is."

A spokesman for the coroner however said that it was not within Lord Justice Baker's remit to investigate perjury, and that he had no plans to do so.

"It is not within his remit, he's not going to get involved with it for the reason that it could guide the jury," The Sun quoted the spokesman, as saying.

However, he did not categorically rule out the possibility of a perjury investigation after the inquest ends, adding that it was open to anyone to bring a complaint to police against Burrell.

"Anybody could ask the police to look into this if they so chose and it would be up to the police."

ANI