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Diana Refused British Escort, Ex-Chief Says

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By ROBERT BARR, The Associated Press

Published: January 18, 2008

LONDON - A former London police chief said Thursday that Princess Diana would not have died in Paris if she had been willing to accept protection from British officers.

In turn, he was accused by a lawyer of being part of a conspiracy to cover up the murder of the princess and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed.

"I totally refute it as a blatant lie," said Lord Paul Condon, who headed London's Metropolitan Police from 1993 to 1999.

Condon said he pleaded with Diana to reverse her decision in December 1993 to dispense with Royal Protection officers.

Those officers continued to accompany her only when she traveled with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

"Let me be absolutely frank. If, as was my wish, she would have had police protection in Paris, then I'm absolutely convinced those three lives would not have been tragically lost," Condon told a coroner's inquest.

Diana, boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul died in the crash in a Paris tunnel on Aug. 31, 1997.

Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, has alleged that the couple were murdered in a plot led by Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.

British and French police blame the crash on the driver, saying he was over the legal limit for alcohol.

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