Worrying signs emerge from inquest hearing
Deeply worrying signs of a lack of justice were in evidence at the latest High Court hearing in the inquest into the deaths of Dodi Al Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales.
The hearing, which took place on March 5th 2007, was in Court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice, a small inaccessible room totally inappropriate for an inquest of such public importance and which may take up to six months to hear. Moreover, the Coroner, Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, wanted to start the inquests on 8th May 2007, only three months or so after a six volume report had been produced by Scotland Yard.
Mohamed Al Fayed, who attended the hearing, says he was not encouraged by the early exchanges between the Coroner and his Counsel, Michael Mansfield QC. “She repeatedly interrupted him and gave the same treatment to Richard Keen QC, representing the parents of Henri Paul,” Mr Al Fayed says.
“She could not have made it clearer, at least to my eyes, that her sympathies were not with me, even though three High Court judges had specifically instructed her to take into account the feelings and concerns of the bereaved families. In contrast, she was all smiles and nods to the Counsel representing the Metropolitan Police and to her own QC."
There was, however, an important victory for Mr Al Fayed’s legal team which argued that 1st October was the earliest they could start if there was to be any hope of the evidence being available for the jury. The Coroner reluctantly had to accept this.
It was the latest in a string of unacceptable decisions which Mr Al Fayed has managed to overturn. In December, he fought to get the public and news media admitted to the inquest hearings: he won. In January he applied for a judicial review of decisions by the Coroner, which would have allowed her alone to decide the outcome of the inquests. He got it.
In February, he fought to get a jury of ordinary people to hear all the evidence: he won. But Baroness Butler-Sloss seems determined to have her own way. In March, the three High Court judges who conducted the review said that the Coroner should not sit as an officer of the royal household because it would look biased. She reinvented herself as the Coroner for Inner West London, her third incarnation and designation to date. At this latest hearing, the team also asked for the inquests to be held at an appropriate venue, with room to accommodate the media and the many members of the public who would wish to hear and see everything that transpires. A decision is awaited.
On 21st March Mr Al Fayed will be back at the High Court for a crucial hearing. This will decide whether or not all the information known to the Coroner and Scotland Yard will be made available to others.
Mr Al Fayed’s legal team will fight to have access to all the documents that are relevant to the deaths of Dodi and Diana. But Scotland Yard has already shown an unwillingness to hand over to Mohamed's lawyers key documents that are essential if the inquests are to be thorough. Similarly, the Coroner has previously sought to limit the documents made available to all interested persons, that is the families of Dodi and Diana and their driver on the night they were killed, Henri Paul.
The Coroner has absolute discretion over witnesses. She will say who will and who will not be called. There can be no doubt in the minds of those who witnessed the initial hearings of the inquests that her instincts are to protect at all costs the interests of Prince Charles, who Diana believed was plotting to murder her in a car crash contrived to look like an accident, and the Duke of Edinburgh, who the Princess believed was malevolent towards her.
The hearing on March 21 may continue for one or two days. It will be critical to the outcome of the inquests which begin in October. If the families’ legal representatives are denied important material and if the Coroner refuses to call certain individuals as witnesses, the inquest will look unfair to the world. The word "fix" will inevitably come to mind.
Mr Al Fayed has long declared that there was an Establishment conspiracy that culminated in the death of his son and the Fayed family's dear friend, Diana.
If this conspiracy is carried over into the courtroom that hears these inquests, Mr Al Fayed’s suspicions will be confirmed. It will be clear to him that what the Queen once called "dark forces" are working overtime in Britain to suppress the truth about the two murders that constitute one of the most heinous crimes of the 20th century.
But he takes heart from the public support on display at the court entrance this month and the fact that some people had travelled a long way. “A banner was attached to the railings at the main door,” he says. “It comprised a beautiful picture of the Princess with the message ‘We need justice to know the truth’. That’s all I have ever been saying. If these inquests are conducted fairly, I will accept the verdict of the jury, whatever it may be.”
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