A British police
inquiry ruled Thursday that Princess Diana was not the victim of a murder plot
when she died in a tragic car accident in 1997.
Diana's death triggered a string of
conspiracy theories that British spies or even her ex-husband,
heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, had plotted the accident because her
relationship with Dodi al Fayed was embarrassing the royal household.
"I'm satisfied that no attempt has been made to hold back information and we
are confident that the allegations made are unfounded," former police chief John
Stevens said after a three-year probe into Diana's death in a Paris road tunnel.
"On the evidence available now, there was no conspiracy to murder any of the
occupants of that car. This was a tragic accident," Stevens told reporters.
Stevens told reporters Diana was not pregnant at the time of her death and
"was not engaged and was not about to get engaged."
Diana, Fayed and their chauffeur Henri Paul died when their limousine hit a pillar in the Paris road tunnel
in August 1997.
A two-year French inquiry blamed the crash on Paul, saying he was drunk,
under the influence of anti-depressants and driving too fast.
The top-level British investigation was ordered by former royal coroner
Michael Burgess in January 2004 when he opened a British inquest into Diana's
death.
Stevens, who headed London's police force, spent almost three years
investigating what happened and interviewed Charles for several hours as part of
his inquiry.
He also talked to Prince Charles' father, the Duke of Edinburgh. Stevens said
there was no evidence to link the Duke to Britain's
intelligence service MI6 as alleged by Dodi's father, Mohamed al
Fayed.
"I very much hope that all the work we have done and the publication of this
report will help to bring some closure to all who continue to mourn the deaths
of Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi al Fayed and Henri Paul," Stevens said in his
report.
Findings denied
Even before the report was published, Mohamed al Fayed had railed against its
findings, calling them "outrageous" and claiming Stevens had been blackmailed by British intelligence chiefs into
ruling out foul play.
The Harrods department storeowner, who wants a public inquiry into the crash,
believes his son and Diana were murdered by British secret services because
their relationship was embarrassing the British royal family.
Before the probe's findings were revealed, the plot thickened even further
with claims in British tabloids that American spies monitored the phone in
Diana's Ritz Hotel room without the knowledge of their British spy counterparts.
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