E-Mail Claims New Evidence on Diana Death

A London coroner suspended the inquest Tuesday into the death of Princess Diana to get a translation of an e-mail from France suggesting new evidence.

Scott Baker, the judge presiding over the inquest, said that the evidence appears to be about blood tests performed on the body of Henri Paul, who was driving the car in August 1997, Sky News reported. Paul was killed in the crash with the princess and Dodi Fayed, son of the owner of the Harrods Department Store in London.

Whether this contains anything that is new seems very doubtful, he said. Whether it does contain anything that is relevant also seems pretty doubtful. But having gone six months down the road it seems desirable that we should bottom out this problem before we go any further.

Mohammed al-Fayed, Dodi’s father, argues that his son and the princess were killed by British intelligence agents, possibly at the request of members of the royal family. He says that tests that showed Paul was drunk at the time were faked.

Earlier Tuesday, Baker instructed jurors that Paul Burrell, Diana’s butler, wasn’t a reliable witness and that everything he said should be carefully weighed.