LONDON: A British court ruled Friday that the inquest into the 1997 death of princess Diana will be heard by a jury, in a victory for her boyfriend s father, who claims an establishment plot killed the couple. The High Court ruling, overturning the coroner s previous decision to hold it alone, came after a legal challenge from Egyptian-born tycoon Mohamed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed, who died with Diana in a Paris car crash. Fayed, the millionaire owner of London department store Harrods and Premiership football club Fulham, welcomed the judgment as an important step and pledged to abide by any finding made by the 12-member jury. I am certain when they see the evidence, all the proofs we have, their judgments will come and approve my belief because I am the father who lost his son and I m the only person who knows exactly what happened, he added. I know the threats Diana had.
Fayed reiterated that he wanted Prince Charles – Diana s ex-husband and the heir to the British throne – and his father Prince Philip, who he labeled gangsters and murderers, to give evidence at the hearing. They have to come because those are the people who really ordered the murder, he said.
In January, coroner Elizabeth Butler-Sloss ruled that she would sit alone to hear the probe, saying that only a coroner could give a careful and fully reasoned decision reviewing all the relevant evidence.
But three senior judges ruled Friday that, under British law, she should hold the inquest with a jury because the fatal crash took place in circumstances prejudicial to the health or safety of the public.
They highlighted parallels between the deaths of the princess and Fayed, who were being followed by photographers, and the media scrum surrounding Kate Middleton, girlfriend of Diana s eldest son Prince William. It is likely that there will be a recurrence of the type of event in which the paparazzi on wheels pursued the princess and Dodi Al Fayed, they said. Any celebrity is vulnerable. Not only is the safety of the person pursued potentially put at risk but there may well be a risk to bystanders.
Fayed s claims that members of the royal family hatched a plot to stop the princess marrying a Muslim – his son – also tipped the balance in favor of a jury, the judges said.
They stressed that there was no reason why Butler-Sloss, a former senior judge with an eminent legal career spanning 35 years, should step down from the case, despite fierce criticism from Fayed. Butler-Sloss s January ruling prompted royal watchers to claim it would fuel conspiracy theories. Elaborate stories about the couple s death continue to circulate in some sections of Britain s media despite Lord John Stevens, former head of London s Metropolitan Police, concluding that it was a tragic accident in an 800-page report last December. A preliminary inquest hearing is due to take place Monday but it is not yet clear when the full probe will be held. A spokeswoman for Clarence House, Charles s office, said she had no comment on the ruling but highlighted a previous plea from Princes William and Harry that the inquest should be open, fair and transparent.
Under British law, inquests are only used to establish basic facts about a death and cannot determine blame or liability.
