Official Diana inquiry: Princess not murdered

LONDON -- A sweeping police inquiry on Thursday ruled out a murder conspiracy in Princess Diana's death, saying the chauffeur in the 1997 car crash was drunk and driving at a high speed to elude pursuing photographers.

The report also said Diana was not pregnant at the time of the crash in Paris, nor was she about to marry her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, who was also killed.

Lord John Stevens, former chief of the Metropolitan Police who oversaw the investigation, said police took the unusual step of publishing more than 800 pages of the three-year, $7.3 million inquiry's findings to help end the speculation that has swirled since Diana's death.

"Our conclusion is that, on all the evidence available at this time, there was no conspiracy to murder any of the occupants of the car. This was a tragic accident," Stevens said.

"There was no conspiracy, and no cover-up," he added.

Stevens said he hoped the report, which largely confirmed previous findings by French investigators, would "help bring closure to all who continue to mourn." The front page of London's Evening Standard dubbed his report "The Diana Verdict."

Diana, 36, and Fayed, 42, were killed along with chauffeur Henri Paul when their Mercedes crashed in the Pont d'Alma tunnel in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997. The only survivor, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, was badly hurt.

The inquiry said samples taken from Paul showed his blood-alcohol level was twice the British legal limit.

"We know that the car traveled at excessive speed during the final part of the journey while being followed by the paparazzi," Stevens said. "We can say with certainty that the car hit the curb just before the 13th pillar of the central reservation in the Alma underpass at a speed of 61 to 63 mph."

Fayed's father, Mohammed al Fayed, rejected the report, calling it "garbage." He claims the couple was killed in a conspiracy plotted by the establishment, including Prince Philip and British intelligence agencies.

The establishment "can cover up anything and they think that the public can be duped," al Fayed, owner of Harrods department store, said at a news conference after the report was released.

Al Fayed said Diana "conveyed to me all her suffering, all the devastation of threats she have in her life in the last 20 years she was living in the royal family environment."

When contacted by investigators, "Philip saw no reason to comment on any of these claims," the report said.

The report rejected al Fayed's claims that Diana was pregnant with his son's child and intended to marry him.

"We are certain that the Princess of Wales was not pregnant at the time of her death," Stevens said. "Our conclusions were strengthened by forensic tests carried out on blood recovered from the Mercedes car.

"From the evidence of her close friends and associates, she was not engaged and not about to get engaged," Stevens said.

Stevens said he had interviewed Prince Charles, Diana's former husband, and communicated with Philip, Charles' father, and Prince William, Diana's elder son.

"I have seen nothing that would justify further inquiries with any member of the royal family," he said.

Diana's sons endorsed the findings. Princes William and Harry "trust that these conclusive findings will end the speculation surrounding the death of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales," according to a statement from Clarence House, their father's office.

Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, and her sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, also supported Stevens' findings.

A poll commissioned by the BBC, released this month, found that 31 percent of the sample believed the deaths were not an accident, while 43 percent believed they were. The poll of 1,000 adults had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The U.S. National Security Agency said Tuesday it had 39 classified documents containing references to Diana, but that the agency never targeted her communications. Stevens said U.S. officials assured him that secretly recorded conversations in their possession shed no new light on her death.

The investigation also found no evidence that the British Secret Intelligence Service was conducting surveillance on the princess, the report said.

The publication of the report will allow an inquest into Diana's death to get under way. The inquest, convened and then swiftly adjourned in 2004, is due to resume formally next year under a retired senior judge, Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss. Preliminary hearings will be held Jan. 8-9.

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On the Net:

Lord Stevens' report: http://www.met.police.uk/