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Out of the ordinary... jury heard from spies and mystics
SKETCH All human life was there. There were lords, ladies, liars, spies, a jet-setting tycoon, an underwear model, mystics and even a dog in a bandana.
Six months ago a group of ordinary people, chosen at random, were marshalled outside an unassuming coroner's court in central London and put into buses.
Only on their arrival at the High Court did they learn they would be examining the death of one of the most famous women of the 20th century and the son of the owner of Harrods and the Paris Ritz.
With the group whittled down to 11 final jurors, the joint inquest into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed finally got under way on October 2 – more than 10 years after the crash which killed them.
Mohamed al-Fayed gave a hint of what was to come, standing at the gates explaining that his son Dodi and Diana had been "murdered" by the Royal Family as calmly as if he was launching a new range at Harrods.
The jury was swiftly whisked off to Paris to retrace the couple's steps through Mr al-Fayed's Ritz Hotel and walk through the Alma Tunnel, scene of the tragedy.
For two days they examined mundane traffic lights, bollards and white lines – lent an almost mystical significance in the public mind by the events of August 31, 1997.
Peeping through the curtains on their coach they were given a glimpse of Diana's world when Victoria Beckham strode out of the Ritz.
Back in London they pored over hotel CCTV footage and partially obscured stills of the scene in the crashed car, a private view of the final hours of a life lived so publicly.
But after briefly delving into topics such as the dangers of drink-driving or the merits of seatbelts, the evidence quickly moved on to what, for some, was the real subject matter: the couple's private lives.
For weeks we heard about Diana's divorce, her private paranoias, her lovers, her choice of contraceptive, even her menstrual cycle.
Stepmother Raine, Countess Spencer, Lady Annabel Goldsmith and Lady Sarah McCorquodale headed a line-up of titled witnesses taking the stand.
The barristers – and the ever-present media – were eager to know what each thought of whether Diana was pregnant, and whether Dodi was "the one".
A procession of mystics including Diana's medium Rita Rogers, "energy healer" Simone Simmons and holistic therapist Myriah Daniels also shared their insights.
It is unclear whether when Paul Burrell – Diana's former butler – turned up he expected to bask in her reflected glory. The grilling he received instead was "horrid".
His contribution included revealing that Diana's mother, Frances Shand-Kydd, called her a "whore" for dating Muslim Hasnat Khan.
A series of spies known only by codenames such as 'X' and 'F' gave evidence to a courtroom cleared of the public to answer Mr al-Fayed's belief that the crash was staged by MI6.
One revealed that the only mentions of Harrods in the files of MI6 referred to hampers – apparently they are very popular with James Bond.
Former spy Richard Tomlinson gave evidence about what he initially claimed had been a plot to assassinate Slobodan Milosevic through a staged car crash in a tunnel.
The claim was denied but, in one of the few genuine revelations of the inquest, MI6 witnesses confirmed a plan had indeed once been drawn up to assassinate another Balkan leader, although never implemented.
As the evidence went on the conspiracy theories grew and morphed: instead of a mystery white Fiat, there was now a suspicious blocking car.
In addition to a close network including Prince Philip and MI6, Mohamed al-Fayed widened his accusations to include the CIA, Scotland Yard, Tony Blair, most of the Royals and indeed a few Spencers.
But two days before the jury retired to consider their verdict the coroner delivered what will prove to be the real verdict – there was "not a shred of evidence" to back up most of Mr al-Fayed's claims, he said.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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