Daily Express readers to get final say on Diana death
9 Jan 2007
The readership of the Daily Express is to get the final say on Princess Diana's death, the coroner announced yesterday. Lady Eliza Manningham-Butler-Sloss told a preliminary court hearing that she did not want the panel to be drawn from the Royal Household, and this was an easy way of ensuring that it was not.Lady Manningham-Butler-Sloss said that she wanted the hearings to be "relatively informal", despite their grand setting on the front page of the Daily Express. As a result, wigs were not worn, a large paparazzi picture of Prince William's girlfriend was displayed and the amount of bowing and scraping was cut by a third.
In what is believed to be a first in the British legal system, the eventual verdict will be decided not by an 11-member jury but by a premium-rate telephone poll, advertised in the Daily Express. All proceeds will go to the Richard Desmond Home for Deprived Newspaper Proprietors.
Earlier, Michael Mansfield-Bitter QC, speaking for Mohamed Al Fayed, said that having the verdict decided by the Daily Express's readership was the only way he could get what he wanted.
The Queen's lawyer, Sir John Nutting-Head QC, said in a written submission that a jury drawn from Express readers would avoid any doubts over bias. "That they will reach an honest conclusion based on the evidence presented, without being influenced by prejudice or hysterical conspiracy theories, is surely beyond doubt," he wrote.
Also present were Jamie Lowther-Sminkington-Pinkington, private secretary to Princes William and Harry; Lady Sarah McCorquodale-Forkington, Diana's sister; David Dimbleby, to talk over the entrance of the royal party; and the late Rod Hull, a personal friend of Prince Harry.
Under ancient laws, because Princess Diana has appeared on the front page of the Daily Express more than 50 times, it was granted status as an "interested party". Sources on the alleged newspaper said that its editor would have attended, but cutbacks meant he could only afford the bus fare for one photographer.
