THE coroner in charge of a British inquest into the 1997 death of Princess Diana in Paris pulled out of the case today, citing a “heavy and constant” workload.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Michael Burgess said he wanted to pass on responsibility for the inquest before a report from former Metropolitan Police commissioner John Stevens is available.It remains to be seen who now will handle the inquest into the August 1997 death of Princess Diana – the former wife of Prince Charles – and her lover Dodi Fayed in a late-night car crash in a tunnel in the French capital.
But the spokeswoman said Burgess has proposed that a “senior judicial figure” be put on the case.
French investigators have blamed the crash on driver Henri Paul, who was also killed, saying he was driving too fast under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs, as the car was being pursued by photographers.
But conspiracy theories persist, with Fayed’s father Mohamed Al Fayed, owner of the Harrods department store in London and the Ritz Hotel in Paris, suspecting that the couple were the victims of foul play.
Burgess holds the title of royal coroner, responsible for looking into the deaths of members of the British royal family, but his day job is coroner in Surrey, in southeast England, where Dodi Fayed had his home.
“The (Diana and Dodi Fayed) cases will demand a good deal of time and a clear focus, free of distractions,” the coroner’s spokeswoman said.
“Consequently, Mr Burgess has concluded that these two cases cannot properly be dealt with by a coroner who also has a heavy and constant workload of other cases with which to deal.”
“They are too time-consuming for a coroner who has only limited resources and who, even without these cases, has a very full workload and busy district (Surrey) with which to deal.”
Stevens was quoted earlier this month in the Daily Express newspaper as saying that his investigation – including a computer generated reconstruction of the crash – was making “extraordinary” headway.
His report was due to be ready for the coroner in August, but it remains unknown whether it will ever be made public.
Source : http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19872181-2,00.html