How plot to stop Diana and Dodi's affair ended in 'murder'

PRINCESS Diana and Dodi Fayed were murdered when a plot to “end their relationship violently” went too far, resulting in the fatal crash in Paris, a top lawyer claimed last night.

Michael Mansfield QC believes the deaths of Diana and Dodi were the result of an orchestrated plan Michael Mansfield QC believes the deaths of Diana and Dodi were the result of an orchestrated plan

Michael Mansfield QC, one of the nation’s most eminent legal brains, believes the deaths in the Alma Tunnel in 1997 were the result of a carefully orchestrated plan by unnamed parties to end the relationship.

Whether the intent had been to kill or seriously injure was immaterial, he said, as the perpetrators should still be prosecuted for murder. He said: “I never thought it was an accident and the jury in the inquest came back with a verdict of ‘unlawful killing’.

“From a personal point of view I think there was a plan, and the plan was to disrupt and terminate the relationship between Diana and Dodi and that was going to be achieved – because things were escalating very fast in August of that year – by some kind of incident which would be violent.”

During that summer, Diana and Dodi had been enjoying a leisurely sunshine break on the Fayed family yacht together. They are also said to have examined engagement rings. But Mr Mansfield believes the plot to split them up had gone further than was planned.

“In other words, as she (Diana) herself predicted that she might suffer serious injury in a car crash. I don’t think those who planned such events necessarily wanted the people dead. But that does not mean that it is not murder.

Because if I have a plan which results in really serious harm, such as from a car crash, although I might not want you dead but you end up dead, you are liable to be prosecuted and convicted for murder. Because there are two types of intent for murder, one is the intention to kill and the other is the intention to do really serious harm.

“I don’t personally believe they wanted them dead but they wanted to end the relationship by a serious accident and in that case they still can be prosecuted for murder as there was an intent of at least really serious harm.” But Mr Mansfield, who has examined the case in fine detail, said those who carried out the plot remained the “unknown quantity”.

It is understood that MI6 agents were on the ground in Paris on the night of the fatal crash. Witnesses also spoke of a bright flash of light as the Mercedes carrying Diana entered the tunnel. “Nobody has even identified the drivers of the various following vehicles. It is impossible to know who exactly has contrived this situation. No one really knows who actually planned it and who actually carried it out, but there was a plan.”

A letter written by Diana’s divorce lawyer Lord Mishcon after a conversation with her in 1995 famously spelled out the Princess’s fears she would be murdered in a car crash. The letter stated: “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.”

Controversially, the letter was kept under wraps by the British police, who only made it available to French authorities some three years later. Mr Mansfield’s views, put forward in a speech in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, during his one-man tour at the weekend, were spelled out at the same time that investigative journalist John Morgan claims to have uncovered a “tidal wave of evidence” in relation to the case.

Mr Morgan, who has spent years examining the circumstances of Diana’s death, agrees with Mr Mansfield that the Princess was killed as a result of a well-orchestrated plot. He said: “The assassination of Diana was a thoroughly organised and systematic undertaking. It required substantial forethought and precise planning.”

He believes the inquests into Diana and Dodi’s deaths, overseen by Lord Justice Scott Baker, neglected to hear evidence from a total of 176 relevant witnesses. Some 47 witnesses also had excerpts from their evidence read but were not made available for cross-examination, Mr Morgan claims. The many witnesses who were not called included Michael Burgess, Royal Coroner and Coroner for  Surrey.

Absentees also included forensic pathologist Professor  Dominique Lecomte, who declined to give evidence, and the forensic toxicologist Dr Gilbert Pepin. The author said of Lord Scott Baker’s inquest findings: “How could the jury arrive at an informed verdict when they were not given all this crucial information? They were in a ridiculous situation, kept in the dark. My researches showed the cover-up continued.”

In Diana Inquest: The Untold Story, Mr Morgan, 53, from Brisbane, Australia, alleges a cover-up by the authorities in France. He also claims Parisian investigators bungled the inquiry. Mr Morgan further calls into question the efficiency of the autopsy carried out on the driver, Henri Paul, and highlights major conflicts on witness accounts regarding the testing of blood samples from Paul.

It is claimed the samples were tampered with and swapped with those from another body in the morgue. His book, the third in a series of four on Diana’s death, claims to demonstrate “the lengths the French authorities were prepared to go to in framing a dead, defenceless, sober and innocent driver”.

In the second part of the series Mr Morgan claims to have uncovered “hundreds of errors” in the British £3.69million Operation Paget inquiry into the crash. He further claims a number of  witnesses, including a senior police officer, lied to the inquests. Dodi’s father, Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, has long argued Diana and his son were

murdered.

Mr Mansfield, 68, has also outlined many of his concerns in his autobiography, Memoirs Of A Radical Lawyer. He represented Mr Al Fayed at the 2008 inquest into the deaths of Dodi and the Princess. Mr Mansfield insisted the jury did not accept it had been a simple accident.

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