Diana unlawfully killed, inquest rules

By Paul Majendie and Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed were unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of their chauffeur and paparazzi photographers pursuing them into a Paris road tunnel 10 years ago, an inquest ruled.

The jury, which had spent almost six months listening to more than 250 witnesses from around the world, reached their decision on Monday after deliberating for four days in a case that had sparked worldwide media interest.

A decade after the death of the world's most photographed woman at 36, Britain's former police chief John Stevens said he hoped this would finally bring closure to the tragedy and lay to rest conspiracy theories swirling around the case.

On the evening they died, Diana and Dodi fled from the back entrance of the Ritz Hotel in Paris in a desperate bid to avoid swarms of paparazzi photographers snapping their every move.

They pursued the ill-fated couple on high-powered motorbikes into the Alma tunnel and took pictures of the dying princess in the wrecked Mercedes after it smashed into pillar 13.

Dodi's father, luxury store owner Mohamed al-Fayed, had accused Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip, Diana's former father-in-law, of ordering British security services to kill her and stop her marrying a Muslim and having his baby.

In a statement after the judgment, al-Fayed said: "I'm not the only person who said they were murdered. Diana predicted that she would be murdered and how it would happen. So I am disappointed."

He insisted that the Queen and her husband should have been called as witnesses. "No one should be above the law."