UNITED KINGDOM / FILE: Diana inquest says no royals will sit on any jury, should one be formed

Record ID: 575151

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM / FILE: Diana inquest says no royals will sit on any jury, should one be formed
  • Date: 9th January 2007
  • Summary: (BN14) BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE - NOVEMBER 1995) (REUTERS) VARIOUS DIANA WITH SICK CHILDREN IN HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 24th January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Legal System
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ZY1C2MUPIUET0AC4HSNR8OOU
  • Story Text: The judge overseeing an official inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al Fayed in 1997 ruled on Monday (January 8) that royal officials would not sit on any jury that considers how they died.
    Because Diana was part of the royal family when she died, any jury, according to a convention dating back to the 16th century, would usually be made up of members of the royal household.
    But at a preliminary hearing on inquests which will officially determine how the couple died, Judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss said this would be inappropriate.
    Diana's children, Princes William and Harry, who are eager to put a decade of speculation behind them, said in a written statement that the long-awaited inquest should be "open, fair and transparent" and completed as fast as possible.
    In the years since the accident, a host of conspiracy theories has flourished, suggesting the couple were murdered because their relationship embarrassed Britain's royal family.
    Three weeks ago, a British police investigation ruled that their Paris car crash was an accident and the two were not the victims of an elaborate murder plot.
    A two-year French investigation had already come to that conclusion, but under British law an inquest is needed formally to determine the cause of death when someone dies unnaturally.
    The lawyer representing Queen Elizabeth, John Nutting, said it would be "undesirable, even perhaps invidious" to have royal officials on the jury and the need for strictly unbiased scrutiny meant members of the public would be more appropriate.
    Butler-Sloss, who is considering whether there should be any jury at all, agreed.
    The death of the "People's Princess" -- divorced from heir to the throne Prince Charles and the world's most photographed woman -- sparked an outpouring of grief in Britain.
    Diana, who was 36, Fayed, 42, and their chauffeur Henri Paul died when their Mercedes limousine smashed at high speed into a pillar in a Paris road tunnel after they sped away from the Ritz Hotel, pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes.
    The jury issue and whether the inquests should be conducted together was debated in intricate legal detail during the hearing held at London's High Court in front of Diana's sister.
    Dodi's father Mohamed al Fayed who believes the couple were murdered, wants a jury inquest.
    "There have been two small steps forward but there is one huge hurdle yet to clear and that is the hurdle of a jury. It is absolutely essential that a jury of ordinary people is empanelled to hear this matter with the coroner. That decision we haven't got today, that decision has been reserved and upon that virtually everything depends," said Michael Cole, al-Fayed family spokesman.
    Butler-Sloss said that if she had jurisdiction over the inquests, they would be held together and hear evidence from a minimum of 40 witnesses, mostly French.
    She said she would rule by early next week whether there should be a jury for the inquests which she pencilled in for the start of May. Another preliminary hearing in March will consider who the witnesses should be and the scope of the inquiry.
    The French investigation ruled out foul play, saying Paul was responsible because he was drunk, under the influence of anti-depressants and driving too fast.
    An inquest cannot apportion blame but can rule that the death was "unnatural", due to violence or an accident.
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