Coroner in Diana inquiry steps down as sensitivities grow

Apr 24, 2007, 15:15 GMT

London - A senior former judge appointed to lead an inquest into the death of Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi al-Fayed, withdrew from the task Tuesday, dashing all hopes of a detailed British investigation being completed before the 10th anniversary of Diana's death in August this year.

Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who would have come out of retirement to sit as coroner for the inquest, said she had taken her decision to step down after 'a great deal of thought and reflection.'

The 73-year-old former top woman judge, who was head of the Family Division at the High Court in London, said she 'lacked the experience' of dealing with an inquest in which a jury was involved.

The inquest will now be held by Judge Scott Baker, the third senior judicial expert to be named in the Diana case.

Butler-Sloss suffered a severe setback soon after her appointment last September when Mohammed al-Fayed, the father of Dodi and millionaire owner of Harrods department store, won a legal battle to have the inquest heard by a jury made up of members of the public.

She had been planning to hold the inquest behind closed doors, arousing suspicion among critics that some possibly crucial facts could be withheld from the investigation - and the public.

Since then, al-Fayed's lawyers have pressed for members of the royal family to be called as witnesses.

In particular, top lawyer Michael Mansfield, acting for al-Fayed, has called for access to police and Secret Intelligence Services material relating to the death of Diana.

He has asked to see notes of an interview the Metropolitan Police conducted with Prince Charles, Diana's former husband, in connection with her death.

The request would also include access to correspondence between Charles and his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as to all memoranda, messages and exhibits on which a British police report on Diana's death was based.

'The views and concerns expressed by Diana, Princess of Wales, as to her safety and attitudes towards her by members of the royal family' were of interest to the inquest, Mansfield insisted.

Al-Fayed maintains that Diana and his son were killed in a plot engineered by the 'British establishment.'

A British police report, compiled by former Scotland Yard chief John Stephens, concluded last December that the princess and Dodi died in a 'tragic accident.'

Butler-Sloss had warned al-Fayed during preliminary hearings that he was 'not automatically entitled to every single page of every single document' in the case.