UK NEWS
DIANA DEATH CRASH WAS ‘JUST LIKE A PLOT BY MI6’
LAST MOMENTS: Princess Diana
Thursday February 14,2008
By Richard Palmer, Royal Correspondent
PRINCESS Diana may have been murdered by rogue MI6 officers, a renegade spy sensationally claimed yesterday.
Richard Tomlinson, a former MI6 agent, said the plot mirrored one hatched to kill Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
He told the inquest into the deaths of Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed that the couple could have been assassinated using a bright flash from a strobe gun to disorientate their driver, Henri Paul.
The 44-year-old former agent was called to testify at the hearing in London’s High Court after telling a French examining magistrate that the crash was “eerily similar” to an MI6 plan he had seen to assassinate Milosevic.
He said it was unlikely MI6 had formally approved a plan to assassinate Diana and Dodi but it was possible that a group of agents might have arranged it unofficially if the couple’s activities were deemed damaging to British interests.
“It could have been done independently by members of MI6, but not by the service itself,” he said. Jurors heard about the similarities between that crash and the assassination plan discussed by MI6.
Witnesses have described how the couple’s Mercedes careered out of control and into a concrete pillar after a bright flash of light in the Alma underpass in Paris on August 31 1997.
Mr Tomlinson, who spent six months in jail for breaching the Official Secrets Act after trying to publish an account of his life as a spy, said he had been shown how strobe guns could be used to disorientate helicopter pilots and assassinate targets.
It was explained to him by a sergeant in the Royal Navy’s Special Boat Squadron during an MI6 training course in Poole, Dorset, he said.
In May 2005 he told a Scotland Yard team investigating Diana and Dodi’s deaths: “I would firstly like to state that MI6 do have the capacity to stage accidents, whether by helicopter, aeroplane or car, and also that the strobe light was shown to us by the SBS at Poole during our training.”
Mr Tomlinson recounted how in 1992 MI6 discussed a plan to assassinate Milosevic using a bright flashing light to disorientate his driver in a road tunnel.
It was one of three possible assassination methods put forward by the deputy head of an MI6 section covering the Balkans, outlined in a memo suggesting the Serbian president could be killed while he was at peace talks in Geneva.
MI6 has admitted that one of its agents did come up with a plan to assassinate a leading politician in the Balkans. But the agent has insisted the target was not Milosevic but another politician suspected of genocide.
The agent, identified only as “A” in court, claimed that he was ordered by his bosses to shred the plan almost immediately.
But Mr Tomlinson suggested that his former colleague was lying, and that MI6 had only destroyed the document once it became clear it might be uncovered by a Scotland Yard inquiry into the deaths of Diana and Dodi.
Richard Horwell QC, for the Metropolitan Police, accused him of inventing the strobe gun story to get back at MI6 for sacking him in 1995.
Giving evidence by video link from Marseille, where he now lives, the former spy claimed it was highly likely that Henri Paul was a paid informant for MI6.
The hearing continues.
Video 
DIANA INQUEST
14.02.08, 1:40pm
There are FAR too many questions outstanding. Henri Paul's blood: carbon monoxide sufficient that he could not stand: the white Fiat Uno too near the Embassy to be hidden and then destroyed: that the Establishment would not and could not tolerate as popular a figure as Diana marrying a Muslim - who would be step-father-in-law to William and Harry - and either Mohamed as relative or the Doctor's family, whichever she chose. Neither Trevor or Kez would have tolerated Henri Paul driving if there was the slightest hint of drunkenness. It would be more that their job/lives would have been worth. No, it's not all to be dismissed as an "accident" - yes, it was an accident, but who/what caused the accident remains to be discovered before we are all told to "move on".
• Posted by: Gibb1 • Report Comment
"JUST LIKE A PLOT BY M16"
14.02.08, 1:14pm
When blame is to be apportioned for a really dangerous operation, the blame is of course, very transparently, attributed to low-ranking officials so that the top-rankers can be absolved of any wrong-doing. "Rogue M16 officers" would never have acted on their own, because they would know exactly what fate was in store for them if they did this unsanctioned action. And the officer that performed the action that resulted in the car being pointed towards the pillars did so because he was ordered to do it. He is of course being painted out of the picture to protect him. And the "strobe flashes" is an unequivocal red herring.
• Posted by: Tshan • Report Comment
MURDERED BY ALIENS?
14.02.08, 11:13am
'PRINCESS Diana may have been murdered by rogue MI6 officers, a renegade spy sensationally claimed yesterday.'
What a load of rubbish! Totally unfounded speculation.Princess Diana may also have been murdered by aliens from a neighbouring galaxy. What idiot would attempt to kill someone in this way, where there is so much uncertainty of success. At a previous investigation it was disclosed that if Princess Diana had been wearing a seat belt she would still be alive. This inquest is a total waste of money. The likely outcome is simply confirmation that she was killed by a drunken driver and Mohammed Al Fahed refusing to accept the verdict. Great value for £6 Million.
• Posted by: Bystander • Report Comment
DARK CARS
14.02.08, 10:56am
Anyone like to hazzard a guess as to how many dark cars there were in and around Paris on that day in particular.
So let me get this right the little dark car in the photo was previous to the photo being taken
a) actually facing the wrong way in the tunnel (unnoticed) then after the mercedes crashed drove past the wreck (unnoticed) the wrong way, then did a three point turn (unnoticed) and drove back past the wreck or
b) drove past the wreck after the crash,(noticed) then turned round in the tunnel (unnoticed) and parked facing it the wrong way, or drove out of the tunnel the wrong way (unnoticed)
c) the driver by now totally disorientated on either version above presumably then exited the tunnel again facing the correct direction of flow of traffic (otherwise there would have been another accident) and later just for good measure drove up another road the wrong way.
Hmm !!
• Posted by: MrsA • Report Comment
JONO
14.02.08, 10:23am
Yes but could you but them there in 1993 when Tomlinson is aledging he say his equipment.
• Posted by: TyWeb • Report Comment
GUYS, YOU'RE STRETCHING THIS
14.02.08, 10:16am
Tomlinson was shown to have changed the assasination plot story after the crash. Do you really think MI6 is going to own up to plots to kill foriegn leaders just to satisfy Al fayeds wild accusations? I think the significant thing here was Tomlinson admitting he couldn't really remember....then go on to say Henry Paul was the SORT MI6 would recruit. What's that, eyes too close together, shifty looking.....his testimony thus far has looked desperate. Yesterday was very damaging to MF.
Penny
"resemblance of one of the sinister looking..."
"Why did Trevor say if he remembered, they would kill him?"
"found near dead with an overdose of morphine which is used for uthenasia..."
"The same dark car which had caused a near accident at le Bourget airport."
"The same dark car which was seen speeding out of the tunnel and careering down a road on the"
"If Kez was an MI6 helper as many say, then who says"
This is all just wild speculation and rumours most of which even MF doesn't have the gall to bring up in court! As for MI6 Top Cat Dearlove.....surly he wouldn't do the deed himself, he's got blokes that can do that for him?
• Posted by: TyWeb • Report Comment
To view all 'Have Your Say' comments, click this button...