No evidence that British agents spied on princess, judge says

LONDON (AP) — The coroner investigating the death of Princess Diana and her companion Dodi Fayed said Wednesday there was no evidence that Britain’s security services had spied on her.

Lord Justice Scott Baker, who was appointed to oversee the inquest which opens Oct. 2, cast doubt on the theory, championed by Dodi’s father, Mohamed al Fayed, that British agents were intercepting Diana’s calls.

“At the moment there is not a shred of evidence that the Security Services were involved,” he said.

Baker was responding to a request from al Fayed’s lawyer, Michael Mansfield, to add the so-called “Squidgy” tape — a recording of an intercepted telephone conversation involving Diana — to the list of items to be examined by the coroner’s jury. Mansfield said the recording could help show the princess was being spied upon.

The embarrassing recording captured Diana talking with a man identified as James Gilbey. He called her “Squidgy” and gushed, “I love you, love you, love you.”

Baker said he would consider the request but appeared skeptical, saying there was no proof the tape, which found its way into the media in 1992, was recorded by British intelligence.

Witness list

Baker also promised to prune Mansfield’s proposed list of 68 witnesses. Mansfield said the witnesses would testify about the princess’ fears of surveillance and plots.

“You’re unlikely to get the lot,” Baker said after rifling through the list. The judge suggested that eight witnesses, including Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell, and Trevor Rees, the bodyguard who survived the crash, appeared pertinent.

The preliminary hearing was the last in a series of hearings intended to finalize the preparations for the long-delayed inquest into how Diana and Fayed died on Aug. 31, 1997, along with their driver, Henri Paul, when their car crashed in a Paris underpass.

Under British law, inquests are held when someone dies unexpectedly, violently or of unknown causes. The process, overseen by a coroner, is intended to determine the cause of death.