Ousted spook to finger MI6 for Diana's death

Richard Tomlinson says the way the Princess and her boyfriend died closely resembles a British secret service plan to eliminate Slobodan Milosevic. Photo / Yanse Martin.

A New Zealander's evidence could form a crucial piece of the puzzle as the world waits to hear the true story behind the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Richard Tomlinson, a renegade British secret service spy who was born in Ngaruawahia, is due to give evidence to the Royal Courts of Justice in London during the inquests into the 1997 deaths of the Princess and Dodi Al Fayed. Lord Justice Scott Baker, who is heading the inquests, has listed 20 key issues that he will focus on. And one of those is whether Mr Tomlinson's evidence throws any light on the collision. Mr Tomlinson, a highly controversial figure who worked for MI6 and was later sacked by the organisation, claims the Princess' death was curiously similar to a fate planned by MI6 for Serbian leader President Slobodan Milosevic in the early 1990s. He also claims the Princess and Al Fayed's driver, Henri Paul, who was also killed in the crash, worked for MI6. In an affidavit Mr Tomlinson gave to a French magistrate investigating the deaths in 1997, he said: "Whatever MI6's role in the events leading up to the death of the Princess of Wales, Dodi Al Fayed and Henri Paul, I am absolutely certain that there is substantial evidence in their files that would provide crucial evidence in establishing the exact causes of this tragedy."

Mr Tomlinson's evidence is among the most eagerly anticipated, particularly among people who believe there is evidence of a high-level conspiracy behind the Princess' death. His evidence to the coroner's court is based on documents he saw when he was still a part of MI6. He claims that in 1992 he was shown a three-page outline plan to assassinate Slobodan Milosevic, as Yugoslavia descended into civil war. One of three scenarios was to cause his car to crash by disorienting the driver using a strobe flash gun. The plan also involved arranging the crash in a tunnel so there would be more chance of death of serious injury and less chance of independent, casual witnesses, Mr Tomlinson claims. The coroner's court hearing began on Tuesday and is expected to last four months. The court and an 11-member jury will visit Paris on Monday and Tuesday next week, with trips to the scene of the crash, the Ritz Hotel and the Pitie Salpetiere Hospital where the Princess was treated. Mr Tomlinson also claims that Henri Paul was on the payroll of MI6. His affidavit says he read the personal file of an MI6 informant working at the Ritz Hotel, where Paul was deputy head of security. "I cannot claim that I remember from this reading of the file that the name of this person was Henri Paul, but I have no doubt with the benefit of hindsight that this was he."

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