(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-08 14:42

The inquest into the death of Princess Diana returned a verdict of unlawful killing Monday, blaming the driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and paparazzi photographers pursuing her car at high speed.

More than a decade after the 1997 Paris car crash which killed the then 36-year-old princess, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and Paul, who had been drinking, jurors returned verdicts of unlawful killing through grossly negligent driving.

The 11-member jury added that the fact that Diana and Fayed were not wearing seatbelts contributed to their deaths.

During the six-month inquest at London's High Court, Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed alleged that the couple were killed in an establishment plot involving senior royals including Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip, to prevent her marrying a Muslim.

Al Fayed, the Egyptian-born owner of London's up-scale Harrods department store, claimed that his son and Diana -- ex-wife of heir to the throne Prince Charles -- were about to get married and that she was pregnant when she died.

He said he was "disappointed" by the verdict but insisted as he left court: "The most important thing is, it is murder."

Separately, in a statement read by his spokeswoman, Al Fayed said: "I'm not the only person who says they were murdered. Diana predicted that she would be murdered and how it would happen.

"The verdicts will come as a blow to many millions of people around the world who supported my struggle, and I thank them...

"The jury have found that it wasn't just the paparazzi who caused the crash, but unidentified following vehicles. Who they are and what they were doing in Paris is still a mystery."

Al Fayed cannot appeal against the verdict but he can apply to the courts for it to be quashed and for a new inquest to be held. His spokesman Michael Cole said he was "keeping all our options open".

Diana's two sons, William and Harry, meanwhile said they "agree" with the inquest verdicts, and thanked the members of the jury, as well as the coroner and those who appeared as witnesses.

The coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, had said in his summing-up of the case there was "not a shred of evidence" to support Al Fayed's theory, and after nearly 24 hours of deliberation spread over four days, the jury reached a majority verdict with nine of the 11 members agreeing on what happened.

Lord John Stevens, Britain's former top policeman who headed the British investigation into the crash, said he hoped the verdict would put an end to conspiracy theories which have swirled around the case.

"I do hope everybody will take this verdict as being closure to this particular tragic incident and the people who have died will be allowed to rest in peace," he said, urging Al Fayed to keep his promise to respect the jury's decision.

The inquest heard from some 250 witnesses, while the jurors also travelled to Paris to see the scene of the accident, the Pont de l'Alma underpass, for themselves.

Diana's former butler Paul Burrell was among the most high-profile witnesses to take the stand, but the coroner described him as a liar after he was caught on videotape by a newspaper confessing he had misled the inquest.

London's Metropolitan Police said Monday that no decision had been made on whether to investigate Burrell for perjury.

Others whose testimony gripped the court included Pakistani surgeon Hasnat Khan, who had a two-year romance with the princess, Diana's medium Rita Rogers, and a series of spies known only by codenames such as "X".

Two previous police investigations -- one French and one British -- concluded that the deaths were a tragic accident and that Paul was over the drink-drive limit while speeding to get away from chasing photographers.

The latest probe cost around 8 million pounds (10 million euros, 16 million dollars), according to a police estimate.

In the weeks before their death, photographs of Diana and Dodi enjoying a Mediterranean cruise were splashed across newspapers and magazines across the globe, prompting intense competition for shots of the couple together.

The death of Diana plunged Britain into days of mourning, with thousands of people leaving flowers outside her Kensington Palace residence in London.