Royal coroner quits Princess Diana inquest

Jul 24, 2006, 14:12 GMT

The inquest into the death of Britain's Princess Diana has been thrown into chaos after the royal coroner quit.

Michael Burgess announced that he was stepping down on Friday (20.07.06), claiming the workload from his main job as coroner for the county of Surrey, in south England, made it impossible to devote enough time to the Diana inquiry.

Diana was killed along with her lover Dodi Fayed in a Parisian car crash in 1997.

Sources now fear the shock resignation of Mr Burgess could lead to a cover-up of any evidence of foul-play.

It has been claimed that the British royal family, the British Government and intelligence agency MI6 are planning to replace Mr Burgess with a 'tame' High Court judge to record that the pair died as a result of a road accident.

The news has left Lord Stevens - who was appointed by Mr Burgess to investigate conspiracy theories behind the crash - in a difficult position.

He was due to deliver the report - codename Operation Paget - next month.

A source told Britain's Daily Express newspaper: 'In the last few years, Lord Stevens' detectives and the legal team of Dodi's father, Mohammad Al Fayed, have amassed a mountain of new evidence which demonstrates that it was not just a traffic accident.

'Because of the evidence available to him, Mr Burgess would have found it very difficult to say Diana's death was an accident. Many questions are being raised. But now Mr Burgess is out of the firing line and there is talk the search in on for a tame judge.'

Lord Stevens' investigation reportedly discovered that Diana's chauffeur, Henri Paul, was a paid informant for the security services of Britain and France. The team have also found that £75,000 had been placed into Paul's bank account - in the weeks leading up to the crash.

The resignation of Mr Burgess means the inquest could be delayed until 2008 and Lord Stevens has come under pressure to release his report.

Copyright 2006 BANG Media International