London Jury Finds Diana Was Unlawfully Killed
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LONDON — Princes William and Harry were hoping last night that 10 years of speculation over the death of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, would finally end after a jury decided that she was unlawfully killed.
After six months of extraordinary claims and counter-claims, the inquest jury decided that the paparazzi who pursued the princess’s car through Paris and its driver, Henri Paul, who had been drinking, were both to blame for the crash because of their “gross negligence.”
Sources close to the princes said they were “optimistic” that the verdict would draw a line under the countless conspiracy theories about the accident in 1997.
“They just want it to end after all this time,” a source said. In a statement issued by Clarence House last night, the princes said they agreed with the verdict and thanked witnesses who had given evidence that had “in many cases reawakened their painful and personal memories.”
The former bodyguard who survived the crash despite suffering severe injuries, Trevor Rees, was singled out for praise and the princes expressed their “profound gratitude” to the medical staff who fought in vain to save their mother’s life.
By a majority of 9–2, the jury at the Royal Courts of Justice in London returned verdicts of unlawful killing on both the princess and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed — the equivalent of manslaughter in a criminal court.
It means that after two exhaustive investigations, and with an estimated $20 million of taxpayers’ money spent on the unprecedented inquest, the blame has once again been attached to the very people who were accused within minutes of the princess being declared dead.
But the paparazzi — 10 of whom were arrested after the crash — will not face fresh legal proceedings in France, as a police investigation there cleared them of any criminal responsibility, a decision that was upheld on appeal. Yesterday’s verdicts were rejected by Mohamed Fayed, who maintained that Princess Diana and his son Dodi were “murdered” by MI6 on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh. Last night, a poll suggested that almost a third of Britons still agree with him, despite the coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, declaring that there was “not a shred of evidence” in support of the conspiracy theories.
