Diana unlawfully killed, jury rules

After 10-and-a-half years and inquiries likely to cost taxpayers well over £12 million, the jury concluded Diana was unlawfully killed by bad driving.

They had sat through the evidence of 278 witnesses over six months and deliberated for almost 24 hours, concluding that Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed died because of gross negligence by both driver Henri Paul and the pursuing photographers.

But the jury also made clear unanimously that the couple's lives might have been saved by wearing seatbelts.

The couple were killed alongside Mr Paul when the Mercedes he was driving slammed into the 13th pillar of the Alma Tunnel in Paris on August 31 1997.

Mohamed al Fayed has never accepted, despite compelling evidence, that Mr Paul - his employee - was drink-driving, choosing to believe the crash plotted by the Duke of Edinburgh and MI6.

Despite Mr al Fayed earlier saying under oath that he would accept the jury's verdict, his spokesman made clear that he was keeping "all options open" on a possible legal challenge.

The jury of six women and five men, who travelled to Paris last year to inspect the scene of the crash personally, reached the joint verdicts on the deaths of Diana and Dodi by majorities of nine-to-two.

They added, through a series of extra narrative conclusions, that they believed Mr Paul had been drinking and was going too fast - just like the French and British police investigations which went before. But they pinned equal blame on the paparazzi driving after hearing evidence they had effectively been "racing" Mr Paul.

While those decisions were reached by a nine-to-two majority, the jury made its conclusion on seatbelts unanimously. All 11 also agreed that the fact that the car hit a pillar and not a wall helped make the impact of the 65mph crash more powerful.