Diana's home 'may have been bugged'

An electronic sweep of Diana's Kensington Palace apartments found a signal from a wall that could have been a listening device, the jury was told.

Diana had serious concerns about being under surveillance from "dark forces" and believed a five-strong team had been tasked with watching her every move and that her home and car were fitted with devices, the inquest heard.

The Princess had her Palace rooms in central London searched four times in four months by security expert Grahame Harding in 1994 and on one occasion a signal was found. Mr Harding, the founder of a surveillance and security firm, told the hearing he discovered the possible device in a wall that divided Diana's rooms from a room used by the Prince of Wales.

The security expert, who later supplied the Princess with a mobile phone in a bid to allay her fears that it was also bugged, told the inquest that the signal could have been equipment in another room.

He said: "It's very hard to say, it could be a number of things. Anything that concerns oscillators, that would give (off) radiation or transmission - the equipment could pick that up. At that time I believe it was a particular device."

He explained there was no evidence the wall had been altered and he could not get access to the room behind the wall, but when he did another electronic sweep a day or two later at the same spot the transmission had gone.

Asked by Nicholas Hilliard, representing the coroner, about his mention in a statement to the Metropolitan Police that Diana talked of "dark forces" when discussing possible bugging, Mr Harding replied: "They were words she used to me, 'there are dark forces', and never really expanded on that in any way."

When questioned again by the lawyer he agreed with his suggestion that the reading could have come from a radio or mobile telephone or a number of different things.

The inquest also heard from Rodney Turner, a personal friend of the Princess, who said her relationship with Dodi Fayed was over a few weeks before the couple were fatally injured in a car crash shortly after midnight on August 31 1997.