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Testimony in Diana inquest ends this week

The coroner's inquest investigating the deaths of Princess Diana and boyfriend Dodi Fayed expects to hear its final witness this week, a court spokesman said on Friday.

  • AP
  • Published: 21:49 March 14, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: The coroner's inquest investigating the deaths of Princess Diana and boyfriend Dodi Fayed expects to hear its final witness this week, a court spokesman said on Friday.

French pharmacist Veronique Dumestre-Toulet, who is listed to testify on Tuesday, is expected to be the last of more than 240 witnesses. She conducted tests on the blood of driver Henri Paul, who was blamed by French and British police for the crash on August 31, 1997.

The coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, has allowed a wide-ranging exploration of claims that the couple were victims of a murder plot.

Fayed's father, wealthy businessman Mohammad Al Fayed, claims the couple were victims of a plot directed by Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, and carried out by British secret agents.

Al Fayed claims the plot was carried out to prevent Diana, the ex-wife of Prince Charles, from marrying Dodi Fayed. Al Fayed also claims the princess was already pregnant as a result of the six-week romance.

'No' to summon Philip

The coroner refused to summon Prince Philip to testify at the inquest, and rebuffed a bid by Al Fayed's lawyer, Michael Mansfield, to put questions to the queen.

"In my judgment it is not expedient to call the Duke of Edinburgh to give evidence, nor do I think the queen should be asked to answer the questions by Michael Mansfield," Baker ruled on March 7.

"Neither step will in my judgment further the inquest process."

Diana and Dodi Fayed were killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

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