A SOLDIER who claims Princess Diana was murdered by the SAS has fled the UK before he could be quizzed by police, it was revealed yesterday.
Mystery still surrounds Diana's death [PA]
Known only as
Soldier N, the former SAS sergeant vanished days before he was due to be
interviewed as part of a “scoping exercise” into information
surrounding her death.
He had been expected to
meet Scotland Yard officers in the coming days as part of a new
assessment of the evidence in connection with the 1997 crash in which
Dodi Fayed also died.
Last night a spokesman for
the Metropolitan Police said: “The Met is currently scoping recent
information regarding the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. This
scoping exercise is not complete.”
News that the
ex-soldier has suddenly left the country is bound to throw the probe
into disarray.
Officers were keen to speak to him after he reportedly
told his estranged wife that a special forces hit squad was behind the
death of Diana. The claims were only made public last month.
One
source said: “Soldier N is key to this inquiry as he is the person who
made the claims. Pressure on him has been mounting since the original
story broke last month. He was aware police wanted to interview him.
“No one can be sure why he has gone.”
Soldier
N’s estranged wife revealed that during a conversation in 2011, her
husband had claimed Diana, 36, was killed by the SAS.
During
the conversation, she remarked to him how sad it was that Prince
William’s mother had been killed, only for him to reportedly reply: “As a
matter of fact, it was the Regiment that did it.”
Soldier
N allegedly further told his wife that the car crash in Paris was
caused after an SAS hit team flashed a blinding light at Diana’s driver
Henri Paul. The claim appears to support testimony from a former MI6 spy
at the inquest into Diana and 42-year-old Dodi who told of a
colleague’s plan to kill Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic by using a
strobe light in a tunnel to distract his driver.
He
revealed the existence of a shadowy unit within the SAS known as The
Increment for the purposes of carrying out lethal operations on behalf
of MI6.
Soldier N’s claims were later documented
in a seven-page letter written by his mother-in- law in September 2011
when his marriage had disintegrated.
The letter was then passed to Dyfed-Powys police, but not acted upon.
Mourners leave flowers in rememberance of Diana [GETTY]
Soldier N is key to this inquiry as he is the person who made the claims
Allegations that the SAS was involved in the deaths were passed to the Yard in July of this year.
Detective
Chief Inspector Philip Easton – who worked on the Yard’s multi-million
pound inquiry into Diana and Dodi’s deaths – and a Scotland Yard
colleague, travelled to a secret location to interview both women a few
weeks ago.
The letter containing the original
allegations was handed to the Yard following the court martial of
another SAS sniper Danny Nightingale in July.
Sgt
Nightingale and Soldier N were arrested in 2011 after police found
firearms and ammunition illegally held at a home they shared.
Soldier
N admitted the offences and was sentenced to two years at a military
corrective training centre. Nightingale admitted the charges and got 18
months.
Following a campaign, he was released
and the conviction quashed. At a fresh trial in July, Nightingale was
found guilty and sentenced to two years suspended for 12 months. He was
convicted largely on the testimony of Soldier N.
The allegations of SAS involvement emerged soon afterwards.
Paul,
41, also died when the Mercedes he was driving smashed into a pillar in
the Pont de L’Alma underpass in Paris in August 1997.
In April 2008, an inquest jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing into Diana’s death.
