Public doubts over Diana accident

BBC 2 - THE CONSPIRACY FILES How Diana Died BBC Two, Sun 10 Dec, 2006

There is strong public support for the theory Princess Diana's fatal car crash was not an accident, a poll suggests.

Some 43% of people agreed it was an accident when asked in a poll for a new BBC TV series, The Conspiracy Files.

Another 31% believed it was not an accident, with the rest unsure, the GfK NOP poll of 1,000 adults found.

An investigation by the French authorities concluded it was an accident and the driver of Diana's car had been drunk and driving too fast.

Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed died after the Mercedes in which they were travelling crashed in the Alma underpass in Paris on 31 August 1997.

They were being pursued by photographers after leaving the Ritz Hotel.

The subsequent investigation took two years to complete.

"There are a lot of valid questions about the official version," says Mike Rudin, series producer of The Conspiracy Files.

"Sceptics have raised important criticisms - how the crash scene was handled, and how crucial forensic information was analysed. Those failings in the original investigation have fuelled the conspiracy theories."

The BBC opinion poll suggests the official verdict that Princess Diana died in a car accident has so far failed to satisfy the public clamour for answers.

PRINCESS DIANA POLL Read the results in full (125KB) Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here

GfK NOP questioned 1,000 adults in the UK, who were asked: "Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. The official verdict was that the crash was an accident. However some people have questioned this. Do you, yourself, believe that it was an accident, or not?"

Yes, was an accident: 43%
No, was not an accident: 31%
Don't know: 27%

The fieldwork was carried out on 27-29 October this year. A thousand adults aged 16 or over were questioned by telephone. The margin of error is plus or minus 3%.

An official report into the crash by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens is to be published next week. A coroner's inquest will open in January.

How Diana Died: The Conspiracy Files was broadcast on Sunday, 10 December 2006 at 2100 GMT on BBC Two.