New clues in death of Princess Diana

Jun 9, 2006, 14:46 GMT

New clues in the death of Britain's late Princess Diana have been found from dried blood samples, police say.

Tests - carried out on the wreckage of the car driving Diana on the night of her death - could provide vital new information to help solve the mystery surrounding the royal's death.

Police commissioner Lord Stevens - who is leading the investigation into the 1997 Paris crash - said there is more information to be recovered from the tangled Mercedes.

He was quoted in Britain's Daily Express newspaper as saying: 'The car still contains substantial amounts of dried blood, from which, we have the opportunity to gain valuable information.'

The new forensic tests are set to provide an answer to speculations that Diana was pregnant with her lover, Dodi Al Fayed's, child.

Dodi was also killed in the August 30 crash in the Pont d'Alma underpass.

According to reports, a team of ten special investigators are examining the car wreckage in Surrey, England, and the recovered blood samples have been put through numerous forensic tests.

One of these examinations is set to reveal the physical state of driver, Henry Paul, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol when he drove the princess on the night of the crash.

The mangled vehicle was brought back to the UK from France, where it had already undergone police examinations.

However, Lord Stevens is convinced there is more evidence to be retrieved from the wreck.

He said: 'Our inquiry is far more complex, and covers all the relevant conspiracy theories and allegations that have floated over the intervening years.

'There is a great deal of work to be done, but my hope is that the final inquest will be held towards the end of 2006.'

Recently, the former police chief said events leading up to the death of the princess, are set to be revealed in a computer reconstruction.

The revolutionary technology is set to re-create a virtual reality film of what happened on the night of the accident - from the moment the Mercedes left The Ritz Hotel to the minute of the crash.

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