Diana Death Plot Claims a Blatant Lie Says Angry Ex-Met Chief

Jan 17, 06:02 PM

BRITAIN'S former top policeman reacted angrily today to claims that he was part of a criminal conspiracy to murder Princess Diana.

In a heated exchange with Michael Mansfield QC, representing Mohamed Fayed, Lord Condon told today's inquest into the death of the Princess and Dodi Fayed that the allegations were a blatant lie".

After questions by Mr Mansfield, the coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker interrupted and said: "You do realise, Mr Mansfield, you are accusing Lord Condon of being in a criminal conspiracy to murder."

Former Met commissioner Lord Condon, clearly angry, said: "That is a blatant lie and would have been the betrayal of my life. I find your suggestion totally abhorrent and a disgusting suggestion."

Earlier, the High Court inquest heard how Lord Condon had pleaded for Diana to reinstate her security after she had ditched it. But Diana bluntly refused because she wanted to maintain her private life.

Lord Condon believed that decision cost the Princess her life. He said: "If she had police protection in Paris I am absolutely convinced those lives would not have been lost. Sadly, she preferred the privacy of not having police protection during her private time." Lord Condon, now retired, said he and his officers took "every opportunity to get her to change her mind". They repeatedly urged her to reinstate Scotland Yard bodyguards particularly after Prince Charles was attacked in Australia and the IRA ceasefire broke down in 1996.

Lord Condon said the police "very stridently" suggested that it would be a good time to bring back personal protection.

But Diana repeatedly refused all overtures from Scotland Yard.

Mr Mansfield suggested that Diana had dumped her security because she no longer trusted the police. Lord Condon, under cross- examination, accepted that that was "not an unfair response".

Mr Mansfield suggested that the police did not take Diana's fears about her personal security seriously enough.

But Lord Condon denied the claims.

He did, however, say he did not personally ask the Princess to reinstate her security team. Instead he went to see the Queen's private secretary, Sir Robert Fellows, and other private secretaries and argued as forcibly as he could for her to reinstate the police security team. He said a personal accident he suffered, which limited his movements for more than a month, meant he was unable to meet the Princess personally when he had intended to ask her to reinstate his officers.

Mr Mansfield also thought the former Met commissioner should have told the coroner that Diana believed people were plotting to assassinate her.

He said Lord Condon was duty-bound to reveal the concerns of the Princess expressed in a note by her former lawyer Lord Mishcon. Instead Lord Condon kept the so-called "Mishcon note" secret in a Scotland Yard safe for six years.

He only informed the coroner of its existence after Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, revealed the Princess's fears in his first book in 2003.

Lord Condon denied he had failed in his duty, saying it was just one of a number of "considerations and options" he faced at the time. But he said in the case of the note there was no "over-riding legal obligation".

He also stressed that he believed Diana's death in Paris in 1997 was purely a tragic accident.

Under cross-examination by Mr Mansfield, he added: "I am not aware of, nor do I believe, there was any involvement of any outside agency or people seeking to cause harm that night to any of the participants in that accident." The High Court inquest continues..

(c) 2008 Evening Standard; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Diana Death Plot Claims a Blatant Lie Says Angry Ex-Met Chief
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