Former Met Commissioner says new Diana claims should be examined by police

Scotland Yard are “scoping” new information about the death of Princess Diana (John Stillwell/PA)

The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led Scotland Yard's investigation into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, has said that is right that any new allegations are examined by police.

Scotland Yard has said that it is “scoping” information about the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed to assess its “relevance and credibility” after the Met were passed a file by Royal Military Police officers in which there were allegations that a former SAS soldier claimed to know who “arranged Princess Diana's death and that it had been covered up”.

The allegation is contained in a letter written by the former parents-in-law of an ex-serviceman, known as “Soldier N”. The letter emerged during the most recent court martial of former SAS sniper Danny Nightingale, 38, who was convicted of possessing a gun and ammunition.

Lord Stevens ran Operation Paget, the three year investigation into the 1997 Paris car crash that killed Diana, Dodi and their chauffeur Henri Paul. The report from the operation said it had found no evidence of murder and dismissed all conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths.

Operation Paget came to the same conclusions as a French investigation in 1999 inquest found they had been unlawfully killed because of excessive speed and Mr Paul's drink-driving.

In a statement to the Daily Telegraph, a spokesman for the former Commissioner said: “Lord Stevens presided over a thorough and far-reaching investigation at the time.

“If anything new has come to light it should passed to its rightful place at the Met, who will no doubt look into the matter appropriately.”

Andy McNab, the former SAS soldier, has dismissed the allegations surrounding the regiment, posting on Twitter today: “This story of the SAS killing Princess Diana is nonsense. It sounds like someone shooting their mouth off to scare people.”

A Scotland Yard statement on over the weekend about the allegations said: “We are scoping information in relation to the deaths and assessing its relevance and credibility. The assessment will be carried out by officers from the specialist crime and operations command. This is not a re-investigation and does not come under Operation Paget.”