A pair of top forensic experts due to testify at the inquest into the death of Princess Diana next week were double-booked.
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Professors Alana Jamieson and John Oliver were scheduled to give forensic evidence at the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the death of Alison Fry in Scotland on the same dates they were expected to take the stand in the Diana case in London.
Fry, 34, drowned in the west Inverness-shire fishing port of Mallaig after a night out and a court hearting was due to take place at Fort William Sherriff Court next week.
However, at a preliminary hearing yesterday (03.01.08) solicitor advocate Peter Watson revealed Jamieson and Oliver were already expected in London at the Diana inquest.
The FAI into the marine scientist’s death has now been rescheduled for 28 January.
The inquest into Diana’s death at London’s High Court closed for the Christmas holidays on Friday 21 December. It reopened on January 2 but the first court hearing in the Diana case is not scheduled until Monday (07.01.08).
Before the recess, the jury heard that driver Henri Paul was “drunk as a clown” just hours before he crashed Diana’s Mercedes in a Paris tunnel on 31 August, 1997, killing the princess, her lover Dodi Fayed and himself.
Barman Alain Willaumez told the court: “His eyes were brilliant, his eyes were wide open and he was visibly looking in abnormal condition. He had not a precise and accurate walk. He was walking like a clown, a little bit like a clown.”
