Victims of 'horrendous murder'

2004-01-06 20:42

London - Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi Fayed, were the victims of a "horrendous murder", claimed Fayed's tycoon father, Mohamed al-Fayed, on Tuesday after the opening of the first inquests in Britain into the couple's death in a 1997 Paris car crash.

"It is a great tragedy, it is very difficult for me ... a very difficult time, very emotional," said Fayed, who owns Harrods department store in London and the Ritz Hotel in Paris.

When asked what he thought had happened on the night Diana and Dodi died, Fayed replied: "I already mentioned it and I am mentioning it all the time... it is absolutely black-and-white, horrendous murder."

Gripped by emotion, he added: "I believe in God and I hope that what happened today at the inquest, I am hoping that the truth will come out."

Fayed has long claimed that Diana, 36, and Dodi, 42, were the victims of foul play, and possibly an attempt to prevent the former wife of Prince Charles from marrying Dodi.

Diana and Dodi, along with driver Henri Paul, died on August 31 1997, when their limousine rammed into a pillar in an underpass beneath the Pont de l'Alma in Paris.

Theories gathered pace

Following a two-year investigation, French authorities concluded that the accident was chiefly the result of Paul driving too fast under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs.

But persistent conspiracy theories gathered pace last October when Diana's butler, Paul Burrell, said in his memoirs the princess wrote him a note 10 months before she died, saying that someone was out to harm her.

The Daily Mirror newspaper, which serialised Burrell's memoirs, revealed on Tuesday that Diana was referring to Charles, whom she had divorced two months earlier.

Asked about the revelation, Fayed - who keeps a public shrine to Diana and Dodi in Harrods' basement - replied: "But I am always saying this from the beginning."

Coroner Michael Burgess opened two parallel inquests on Tuesday, one for Diana in London, the other for Dodi in outlying Surrey, where the tycoon's son lived.

Burgess said he had asked the Metropolitan Police to look into the possibility that the Paris crash was more than just another tragic traffic accident.

Scotland Yard called in

The elder Fayed is still awaiting a decision on his bid for a full inquiry into Diana and Dodi's deaths in Scotland, where he has a country home. Scotland has a separate legal system from England and Wales.

Asked about the coroner's decision to call in Scotland Yard, Fayed said: "I think the police inquiry is part of the inquest, the coroner has to use the police."

The Egyptian-born tycoon, who claimed permanent residence in Switzerland in March last year, also appealed to the public to appreciate just how difficult it has been since he lost his son.

"It has been a long time, six years now, and I am just fighting all the time ... a loving father who lost his son in such a horrific accident," he said. "I appreciate your interest."

- AFP