London – Nine years after Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris, one of the most exhaustive official investigations in British history has concluded that her 1997 death was a “tragic accident” and not murder.
“I do not believe that any evidence currently exists that can substantiate the allegations of conspiracy to murder; there was no conspiracy and there was no coverup,” said John Stevens, who led a $7 million Scotland Yard inquiry that took nearly three years and involved more than 300 witness interviews, computerized modeling of the crash site and even pregnancy testing on Diana’s blood found in the smashed Mercedes sedan.
Stevens, at a packed news conference, declined to assess blame for the deaths, although he noted that Henri Paul, who was driving the car, had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit in France and was driving twice the speed limit. He also noted that the car was being pursued by a number of paparazzi photographers.
“A crash of this nature is similar to a major crash of an airliner,” said Stevens, a former Metropolitan Police Chief. “There is a long chain of events. Take out any link of that chain and this would not have happened.”
Stevens said Diana “might not have died” if she had been wearing a seat belt.
The Stevens inquiry is part of a wider British government investigation into the death, which has been long-delayed by complex police investigations and a lengthy French investigation, which also concluded in 1999 that the deaths of Diana, 36, her companion, Dodi al-Fayed, 42, and Paul were accidental.
The British inquiry opened in 2004 but was suspended while Stevens investigated claims made by al-Fayed’s father, Mohammed al-Fayed, that the pair had been murdered. Mohammed al-Fayed alleged that the British “establishment” conspired to kill them because Diana was pregnant, they were about to become engaged and the royal family “could not accept that an Egyptian Muslim could eventually be the stepfather of the future king of England.”
Stevens’ 832-page report, which will serve as a basis for the official inquiry when it resumes in January, methodically refutes each of Mohammed al-Fayed’s claims as it tracks in detail Diana’s final weeks.
The report concludes that Diana was not pregnant and was not about to become engaged to Dodi al-Fayed. Mohammed al-Fayed told police that his son told him he planned to present Diana with an engagement ring that night. Investigators determined that Dodi al-Fayed bought a ring for Diana that afternoon at Repossi Jewellers in Paris. But, Stevens said, “We believe she never saw that ring.”
