Final hearing before Diana inquest

12 April 2012

The last preliminary hearing before the Diana, Princess of Wales inquest begins in full is due to take place.

Unless there are any last minute setbacks, the case is scheduled to start next month on October 2.

Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker is holding a meeting with lawyers at the High Court in London, which could stretch to two days.

At the last hearing, he outlined 20 issues which will be addressed at the full inquest, ranging from whether chauffeur Henri Paul was really drunk or on drugs to whether Diana feared for her life and whether she was pregnant.

The hearing comes just five days after Prince William and Prince Harry marked the 10th anniversary of the Princess' death at an emotional memorial service in London.

The brothers have already expressed concern about the inquest, calling for it to be swiftly resolved.

Diana, 36, and 42-year-old Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed, nicknamed Dodi, were killed with Paul when their Mercedes crashed in a Parisian underpass on August 31 1997.

Mohamed al Fayed, Dodi's father, has his legal team including Michael Mansfield QC poised ready for the joint inquest.

Harrods owner Mr al Fayed claims Diana was pregnant with Dodi's child and that Dodi and the Princess were murdered in an Establishment and Secret Service plot.

The Metropolitan Police investigation found the crash was simply a tragic accident, with Paul having been drinking and driving too fast.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in