Top UK policeman traces Diana's fatal Paris drive

27 Apr, 2004

Britain's most senior police officer inspected on Monday the site of the car crash that killed Princess Diana and spawned a host of conspiracy theories.
London's Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir John Stevens, walked into the Paris road tunnel where Diana was killed along with her lover Dodi al Fayed and chauffeur Henri Paul.
Stevens also visited the Ritz Hotel in central Paris where the couple had been staying before racing off in their chauffeur-driven car with paparazzi photographers in hot pursuit.
"This is a very intricate investigation. Every single aspect of conspiracy theories and the like will be looked at by my team and then we'll will be reporting to the coroner," Stevens told reporters.
Diana's marriage to Britain's heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles broke down in 1992 and later ended in divorce.
Stevens, who swapped his police uniform for a sombre blue suit, rejected any notion that his visit was merely a public relations exercise.
"I would say that's incredibly cynical," he said.
Stevens is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Diana's death which he was asked to carry out by Britain's Royal Coroner Michael Burgess, who accompanied him on the trip.
He also met French investigators in charge of the initial French inquiry into the accident.

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