Did a British soldier kill Princess Diana?

Scotland Yard probes new info on death emanating from the estranged in-laws of an SAS soldier

London

Scotland Yard has launched a probe into fresh claims that Princess Diana was murdered by a member of the British military and is examining the "relevance and credibility" of the new information, ahead of her 16th death anniversary.

The move to assess the information has been approved by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Scotland Yard's senior-most officer. However, the Metropolitan police stressed that it is "not a re-investigation" into the deaths of the Princess of Wales, her partner Dodi Al- Fayed and driver Henri Paul in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.

"The Metropolitan Police Service is scoping information that has recently been received in relation to the deaths and assessing its relevance and credibility," it said in a statement here.

On April 7, 2008, the inquest jury had concluded that the deaths were due to negligent driving of the drunk driver of the Mercedes; The paparazzi who were chasing the couple on motorcycles and the failure of the occupants to wear seat belts contributed to the deaths.

In December 2006, a police investigation into allegations that the princess and Al Fayed were murdered had concluded, just like a French investigation in 1999, that the driver of the Mercedes had been drunk and driving

at excessive speed. Since then, murder claims have continued to be made but have never been looked into by the British police. The new allegations come from the estranged parents-in-law of "Soldier N", an SAS soldier. They wrote to the SAS' commanding officer claiming that the soldier had told his wife that the unit had "arranged" the Princess' death and that this had been "covered up". Scotland Yard detectives have reportedly contacted the former soldier's estranged wife. A royal spokesperson said there would be no comment from Diana's sons Princes William and Harry to the development. Responding to reports of the new information, a spokesman for Al Fayed said he would be "interested in seeing the outcome" and trusted the Metropolitan police would investigate the charge "with vigour". Diana married Charles in 1981 but their marriage fell apart soon after the births of the two princes, William and Harry. They separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. -- PTI