/ 7 January 2008

Diana split with Dodi before car crash, says friend

Weeks before her death Princess Diana said that her relationship with Dodi Fayed was finished, a British jury heard on Monday as the inquest into the couple’s fatal car crash resumed.

Speaking at the first session of the inquest since the Christmas break, Rodney Turner, a friend of the princess, said she told him a few weeks before the August 1997 crash that the relationship had finished.

”What she said to me was that it was all over, which was really a shock to me,” he said, adding that the princess had told him: ”Don’t fuss, don’t fuss. It’s all over. I’ve had a wonderful time.”

CCTV images of Diana and Dodi seen at the inquest, which began in October, have appeared to show them as a couple, laughing and enjoying time together at the Ritz Hotel in Paris before setting off on their doomed car journey.

Fayed’s father Mohammed, the owner of London department store Harrods, claims they were killed by a British establishment conspiracy to prevent Diana marrying a Muslim and having his child.

Fayed and driver Henri Paul were killed instantly in the crash, while Diana died from internal injuries a few hours later.

Turner, described as a friend of the princess, first made business contact with her when he supplied her with BMW cars, but they became friends as he sent his son to Eton college, also attended by Princes William and Harry. — AFP

 

AFP