Diana judge: No murder evidence

Story Highlights

• Judge heading Princess Diana inquest says had not seen murder evidence
• Harrods boss Mohamed al Fayed alleges plot to kill Diana and his son
• Al Fayed's lawyers expected to call Royal family members as witnesses

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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- The judge investigating the death of Princess Diana said on Monday she had not seen "a shred of evidence" to back claims that the former wife of the British heir-to-the-throne had been murdered.

Coroner Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was responding to a request from lawyers representing Mohamed al Fayed, whose son Dodi died alongside Diana in a Paris car crash 10 years ago, to delay a long awaited inquest into their deaths.

Fayed, owner of the luxury Harrods department store, has long argued that the couple were deliberately killed as part of an elaborate plot hatched by British security services.

"There are a large number of serious allegations being made ... there is not a shred of evidence given to me about these allegations," Butler-Sloss said at a preliminary inquest hearing.

"If there is no evidence to support them, I shall not present them to the jury."

Fayed's lawyers called for Diana's ex-husband Prince Charles and her ex-father-in-law the Duke of Edinburgh to be called as "witnesses of relevance" during the inquest, a move likely to be strongly resisted by lawyers for the royal family.

Lawyer Michael Mansfield also said Diana had premonitions and expressed fears about her safety. He had up to 18 witnesses to prove this, he said.

"It is clear she had fears," Butler-Sloss told the court crammed with reporters from around the globe, highlighting how great the interest still is in the "People's Princess".

A three-year British police investigation ruled at the end of last year that the crash was an accident and not part of an elaborate murder plot as Fayed claims.

The British inquiry backed a French probe which concluded that chauffeur Henri Paul was to blame because he was drunk, under the influence of anti-depressants and driving too fast. Fayed has rejected both British and French findings.

The inquest has taken a decade to come to court as Britain had to wait for the French legal process to be exhausted and then for the British police investigation to run its course.

Last week Fayed won a major legal challenge after High Court judges ruled that the inquest should be heard before a jury and not by Butler-Sloss sitting alone.

Appeal court judge Janet Smith, handing out the ruling, said: "Mr Al Fayed has alleged that the Duke of Edinburgh and the Security Services conspired to kill the princess and Dodi Al Fayed. The allegation must be inquired into."

Monday's hearing was due to decide the witnesses and the jury. But it became bogged down in legal argument.

Mansfield argued that the full inquest should be delayed from May until Oct. 1 to give him time to pore over reports and expert opinion.

"A six month delay is a pebble on the beach compared with what has happened so far," he said.

But Butler-Sloss said: "I would be very sad if I was obliged to delay the start another six months ... That would be very hard on the families."

Diana, 36, Dodi, 42, and their chauffeur were killed when their Mercedes limousine smashed into a pillar in a Paris road tunnel as they sped away from the Ritz Hotel, pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes.

Under British law an inquest is needed to formally determine the cause of death when someone dies unnaturally.

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