Diana inquiry costs over 12 million pounds
Updated: 2008-04-16 08:58
LONDON -- New figures show that the cost of the inquest into the death of Princess Diana has exceeded 12.5 million pounds (one pound equals to about two US dollars).
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The coroner's inquest reached 4.5 million pounds. with a further 8 million pounds spent on the Metropolitan Police investigation, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Tuesday.
The inquest into the deaths of Diana and Dodi Al Fayed, who died in a 1997 Paris car crash, lasted more than three months and heard from 250 witnesses.
The jury found that Diana and Al Fayed were the victims of " gross negligence" by driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi and gave their final verdict as "unlawful killing."
Figures collected by the inquest's press office showed the bill for the investigation included 1.85 million pounds for lawyers' fees, running costs of 768,000 pounds with video conferencing and special visits totaled 703,000 pounds, said the report.
The 8-million-pound bill incurred by the Metropolitan Police included legal representation for the force's commissioner at the inquest and police protection for the jury.
Also included was the cost of the Operation Paget investigation from 2004 to 2006, which was estimated to have racked up expenses of about 3.6 million pounds.
In one set of expenses, public money was used for an official to be flown to Los Angeles to collect a tape of a telephone conversation involving Dodi and his ex-girlfriend, Kelly Fisher.
The final figure will rise higher than 12.5 million pounds as the hearing's last few days have not yet been included in the total and neither have legal bills for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and MI6, the secret security service.
A BBC poll found 78 percent of people thought the inquest a waste of money. Only 19 percent of those questioned thought the truth was worth the money it cost to uncover it.
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