MI6 were not holding file on Diana, inquest told
MI6 were not keeping files on Diana, Princess of Wales or her lover Dodi Fayed when they were killed in a Paris car crash, an inquest was told today.
A female manager working for the security service described how searches she made of an electronic database found nothing relating to the couple and no “plans” involving them.
But the woman, only identified as Miss X, said Dodi’s father Mohamed al Fayed had come to the attention of the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) who kept a card on him, but there was not a more detailed file or any record of monitoring.
The inquest into the deaths of Diana and Dodi was cleared of everyone except the jury, lawyers, interested parties and courtroom officials in order to protect the identity of the witness.
Ian Burnett QC counsel for the coroner questioned Miss Miss X about the Princess and her lover asking: “No cards for either and no files for either?”
She replied: “Absolutely correct”.
The lawyer asked later: “If for the sake of argument there had been any plan at all involving Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi al Fayed would that have been drawn up by your searches?”
“Yes, there was absolutely no plan whatsoever.”
Mr Burnett went on to ask: “Had there been any monitoring of any sort or any surveillance of any sort would that have shown up in the records?”
“Yes,” she replied adding: “there was none.”
Mr al Fayed maintains that the crash which killed his son and Diana in Paris on August 31, 1997 was not an accident but a plot orchestrated by MI6 on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Miss X searched MI6 files after officers from Operation Paget – an investigation into the Paris deaths led by Lord Stevens – contacted the security service in 2004 asking to see any relevant documents.
When questioned about the Duke and whether she found any reference to him she replied she had not, then added: “I would just like to say at this stage sir we don’t hold one, either files or cards on the royal family. I could do a search on all of them.”
