Why Diana's death could lead to a murder probe

London, September 18 (ANI): Princess Diana's death could have led to a murder inquiry had Scotland Yard not failed to disclose to French detectives the existence of a note in which she had herself predicted that she would be killed, says a top lawyer.

Michael Mansfield has revealed that Diana's divorce lawyer Lord Mishcon wrote the note after a conversation with her in 1995.

According to him, Diana told Mishcon that she believed that she might be killed, possibly in a staged road accident.

"Efforts would be made if not to get rid of her (be it by some accident in her car such as a pre-prepared brake failure or whatever)... at least to see that she was so injured or damaged as to be declared unbalanced," the Daily Express quoted the note as reading.

Mansfield believes that French police would have been "obliged" to investigate whether the 1997 car crash that claimed Diana's life was part of a scheme of murder, had they been made aware of the note.

He says that British police instead allowed the note to become public knowledge long after the French inquiry had wound down.

"When the note was given to the police, if they had handed it straight over or made the contents known to the French police they would have had to investigate," he said.

"There were representatives of the French police visiting London and New Scotland Yard and they could have been made aware of the gist of the note. I think that had the French known, they would have been obliged to investigate.

"The point is that there was information suggesting that she thought somebody was going to kill her in an accident or a car crash or something. Obviously if a police force anywhere in the world gets information like that, while you don't automatically assume that it is correct, you obviously have to investigate.

"It might have come to a dead-end, but it might have come to a murder inquiry," he added. (ANI)