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Saturday, August 17, 2013
New information that Princess Diana may have been murdered by a member of the British military ! Scotland Yard looking into this but not calling this a new investigation - not yet !
New information that alleges Princess Diana was murdered has been passed to Scotland Yard through military sources, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The information, thought to include the allegation that the Princess of Wales, Dodi al Fayed and their driver were killed by a member of the British military, will be assessed by officers from the Specialist Crime and Operations Command.
It was passed to the police by the former parents-in-law of a former soldier, according to Sky sources.
Princess Diana and Dodi al Fayed leaving the Ritz Hotel on August 31, 1997
The deaths of the Princess Diana and Mr al Fayed in Paris in 1997 were investigated and examined during a 90-day inquest led by Lord Justice Scott Baker at the Royal Court of Justice in 2007.
On April 7, 2008, the jury concluded their verdict as "unlawful killing, grossly negligent driving of the following vehicles and of the Mercedes".
The Metropolitan Police added the assessment was not a re-investigation and does not come under Operation Paget - the inquiry led by Lord Stevens into conspiracy theories surrounding Princess Diana and Mr al Fayed's deaths.
The wreckage of the Mercedes the pair were travelling in when it crashed
After the inquest, the Metropolitan Police said it had spent £8m on services arising from it and the Operation Paget investigation from 2004 to 2006.
Former Met Police commissioner Lord Stevens published his report in December 2006, rejecting claims that Princess Diana and Mr al Fayed had been murdered.
Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "We understand this information includes an allegation that Princess Diana and Dodi al Fayed and the driver of their car were killed by a member of the British military.
"The information we're told was passed to Scotland Yard quite recently. It also includes, we understand, references to something known as Diana's diary.
"These are very early days, the information has just come in, and Scotland Yard is adamant in saying that this is not a reopening of its investigation from 2004 when it spent three years looking into the circumstances of the Princess' death.
"But it is taking the information seriously and it is considering and it is possible that a new investigation may open."
Diana, Mr al Fayed and their driver Henri Paul died after the Mercedes crashed in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997.
It said last night that it had asked specialist detectives to examine new allegations and evidence passed to it “recently”. The move was approved by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, its most senior officer.
The claims were given to the force by the Royal Military Police, after surfacing during the trial of Sgt Danny Nightingale, the SAS sniper convicted of illegal weapons possession.
The dossier is said to include a claim that the SAS “was behind Princess Diana’s death”. Scotland Yard declined to confirm the content or origin of the material.
Officers from the specialist crime and operations command will carry out a “scoping” exercise to assess if a full-scale investigation is justified into whether the Princess, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul were murdered.
Last night’s disclosure comes in spite of the inquest into the death of the Princess and Mr Fayed dismissing any claims of murder made by Mohammed Fayed, Dodi’s father, and conspiracy theorists.
Since then murder claims have continued to be made but have never been looked into by British police – making last night’s move unprecedented.
The decision to examine the new claims suggests that officers believe they must be looked at by detectives to assess whether they have any weight.
However they come from the estranged parents-in-law of “Soldier N”, an SAS soldier who was a key witness in the successful prosecution of Sgt Nightingale. He was himself convicted of illegal weapons possession.
His estranged wife’s parents wrote to the SAS’s commanding officer claiming the soldier had told his wife that the unit had “arranged” the Princess’s death and that this had been “covered up”.
The source of the claims will inevitably raise questions over their credibility, and why Scotland Yard acted.
Scotland Yard emphasised last night that it was not reopening the previous investigation into the deaths, Operation Paget, and highlighted the verdict of the inquest held after that inquiry was completed.
Officers will have to assess whether the information has not been investigated previously and can potentially shed new light on the deaths.
The development comes ahead of next week’s 16th anniversary of the Princess’s death as a result of injuries she suffered when the Mercedes in which she was travelling crashed in a tunnel in Paris.
A spokesman said: “The Metropolitan Police Service is scoping information that has recently been received in relation to the deaths and assessing its relevance and credibility.
"The assessment will be carried out by officers from the specialist crime and operations command. This is not a reinvestigation and does not come under Operation Paget.
“On April 7, 2008, the [inquest] jury concluded their verdict as 'unlawful killing, grossly negligent driving of the following vehicles and of the Mercedes’.”
Detectives are understood to have contacted the former soldier’s estranged wife.
A royal spokesman said there would be no comment from the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry or Clarence House.
A spokesman for Mr Fayed said he would be “interested in seeing the outcome”.
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