‘Diana’s death was accident’

LONDON—A long-awaited report into Princess Diana’s death in a Paris car crash will confirm a French probe that it was an accident and refute theories of a plot by British intelligence. The report by Lord John Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner, has concluded that Diana died in a traffic accident after her driver lost control of the car while drunk at the wheel, the leaks said Sunday.
Fleeing paparazzi photographers, Diana, 36, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, 42, and their chauffeur Henri Paul, 41, were killed in a car crash in a Paris underpass in the early hours of August 31, 1997. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived.
A two-year investigation in France blamed Paul for losing control of the black Mercedes because he was driving too fast while high on drink and prescription drugs. First to break the report’s conclusions, the BBC said Friday that blood samples taken from Paul just after his death were indeed his and show him accurately to have been three times over the French drunk-driving limit. A source close to the French authorities told the BBC that the DNA tests were done in France within the last year, adding that DNA taken from Paul’s blood samples matched that of his parents. It said the information serves to refute conspiracy theories alleging that Paul’s blood samples were switched in order to show that he was drunk.
Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed has long argued that his son and Diana were murdered by a British establishment plot aimed at preventing the former wife of Prince Charles, heir to the throne, from marrying a Muslim. The Stevens report will also quash conspiracy theories that Diana was pregnant and that she planned to marry Dodi, The Observer said. Stevens is also expected to dismiss the role of a white Fiat Uno which struck the princess’s car just before the crash, even though British police officers have failed to find the vehicle. Diana’s black Mercedes bore the marks of white paintwork. It will also discount the theory that a blinding white light was aimed at the driver in order to cause the crash, according to the leak.
The Observer also reported that the surveillance arm of the US government admitted to Lord Stevens that it had listened to her conversations while she stayed at the Ritz Hotel, even though it failed to notify British intelligence. However, it said, Stevens was apparently assured that the 39 classified documents concerning her final conversations did not contain material that might help explain her death. No explanation for the alleged eavesdropping was given. Finally, the weekly said that Stevens will confirm that Paul received money from the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, the French equivalent of Britain’s domestic MI5 intelligence. It said suspicion remains that Paul may have been rewarded for any tips concerning Diana’s movements.—Agencies