The British police announced last night they were assessing the credibility of new information relating to the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed including an allegation that they were murdered by a member of the British military.
Scotland Yard said it was “scoping” the information, which surfaced in the second court martial of Sergeant Danny Nightingale, the SAS (Special Air Service) sniper convicted of illegally stashing a pistol and 338 bullets in his bedroom.
The allegation was contained in a letter from the parents-in-law of Soldier N, Sgt Danny Nightingale’s former housemate, which was sent to the SAS’s commanding officer in September 2011.
It is understood the information was passed to the Metropolitan Police through the Royal Military Police.
The letter says Soldier N claimed the SAS “was behind Princess Diana’s death” and it had been “covered up”, the Sunday People has reported.
A statement issued by Scotland Yard said: “The Metropolitan Police Service is scoping information that has recently been received in relation to the deaths and assessing its relevance and credibility.
“The assessment will be carried out by officers from the specialist crime and operations command.
“This is not a re-investigation and does not come under Operation Paget.”
Police said they are not prepared to discuss the matter further, while a royal spokeswoman said there will be no comment on the matter from Prince William or Prince Harry, or from Clarence House.
Princess Diana, Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul died after their Mercedes crashed in the tunnel, which left the Ritz Hotel on the morning of August 31 1997.
The hearing into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed lasted more than 90 days with evidence from around 250 witnesses.
The inquests concluded on April 7, 2008, with a jury returning a verdict that Princess Diana and her boyfriend were unlawfully killed.
After the hearing, Metropolitan Police said they had spent £8 million ($12.5 million) on services arising from the inquest and the Operation Paget investigation from 2004 to 2006.
That money includes the cost of the legal team which represented the force’s commissioner at the inquest, police protection for the inquest jury and paying for the Paget inquiry, reported to have cost £3.6 million ($5.6 million).
Former Met Police Commissioner Lord Stevens’s Paget investigation was launched in 2004 at the request of Michael Burgess, the Royal Coroner, who was then overseeing the future Diana inquest.
The former top policeman published his report in December 2006, rejecting the murder claims voiced by some, including Dodi Al-Fayed’s father Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Lord Stevens’s investigation found that Princess Diana was not murdered by British spies nor by the Duke of Edinburgh and she was not pregnant nor engaged to Dodi Al-Fayed.
Operation Paget concluded, just like the French investigation in 1999, that driver Henri Paul was drunk and driving at excessive speed.
The investigation dismissed the endless conspiracy theories sparked by the fatal accident.
Henri Paul had an alcohol level of around 1.74 grams per litre at the time of the crash.
The black type S280 Mercedes was being driven through the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris at around 61 to 63mph – twice the speed limit for that section of road.
Lord Stevens said allegations that Princess Diana was murdered were “unfounded” and that he found nothing to justify further inquiries with members of the Royal Family.
A spokesman for Mohamed Al-Fayed yesterday said he had no comment to make, but said he will be “interested in seeing the outcome”, adding that he trusts the Met will investigate the information “with vigor”.
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