XPost: alt.talk.royalty, alt.gossip.royalty, uk.politics.misc   
   XPost: alt.politics.british   
   From: thecroft@macunlimited.net   
      
   > THE investigation into the death of Princess Diana was facing fresh   
   > chaos last night after the search to replace the Royal Coroner drew a   
   > blank.   
   >   
   > To the embarrassment of the Royal Family and Lord Chancellor Lord   
   > Falconer, no senior judge has yet emerged to take on the highly   
   > sensitive role.   
   >   
   > It is now 14 days since the inquiry was thrown into confusion when   
   > Michael Burgess quit as head of the inquest into the deaths of Diana and   
   > her lover Dodi Fayed.   
   >   
   > The long-awaited hearing, with a mass of new evidence presented by Lord   
   > Stevens, will decide whether Diana and Dodi were murdered.   
   > The delay is a cruel blow to Dodi’s grieving father, Mohamed Al Fayed.   
   > Uncertainty over the inquest is causing great concern to the Harrods   
   > tycoon whose own investigators have unearthed a mass of evidence to   
   > support his allegations of foul play.   
   >   
   > A legal expert said last night: "In one way, it is hardly surprising   
   > that no one wants to step into Michael Burgess’s shoes. The Diana   
   > inquest is seen as a poisoned chalice.   
   >   
   > "Everyone connected to Diana and Dodi would have been entitled to think   
   > that a successor to Michael Burgess would be announced at the same time   
   > as his resignation."   
   >   
   > Mr Burgess, 60, stood down from the Diana inquest on June 21 citing   
   > pressure of work - he is the coroner for Surrey. He was expected to be   
   > replaced by a High Court judge but no one has accepted the challenge.   
   > One of the most thorny issues surrounding the inquest remains   
   > unresolved: Should it have a jury and who should sit on it? Mr Burgess   
   > believed that, as the law stands, it would have to be made up of   
   > Buckingham Palace aides.   
   >   
   > But lawyers for Mr Fayed argued that Diana was stripped of her legal   
   > status as a royal as part of the £17million divorce settlement agreed   
   > with Prince Charles in 1996. One legal source said: "Michael Burgess was   
   > damned either way. If there had been a royal jury or no jury, the cry   
   > would go up ‘Establishment cover up’."   
   >   
   > Diana, 36, and Dodi, 41, were killed when their Mercedes crashed into a   
   > concrete pillar in the Pont de L’Alma tunnel in Paris in August 1997.   
   > The French blamed driver Henri Paul, saying he was under the influence   
   > of drink and drugs and was driving too fast.   
   >   
   > The Paris investigation was condemned by Mr Fayed who is convinced that   
   > the British Establishment engineered the fatal crash.   
   >   
   > ***END ARTICLE***   
      
   She died in acccident. They happen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)