Princess Diana file may be kept secret until 2082 over obscure French rule

he file, which took three years to compile and was the work of 30 police officers, may not be seen by the public for at least 75 years.Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.A 6,000 page file which contains information on Princess Diana's death could be kept secret until 2082 - due to an obscure French rule.The document contains evidence complied by French police and was put together during the 18-month investigation into Princess Diana's death in Paris in 1997.Some conspiracy theorists believe the file could hold information showing her death was suspicious.A source who had viewed part of the dossier, told the Daily Star : "It stinks of a cover up and conspiracy at the highest level, and is typical of French bureaucracy.”.The existence of the document was only admitted after the Daily Star spent months asking to view case files and said it would be kept from public view until at least 2082.

Authorities at the Palais de Justice in the French capital – where the documents are locked in a basement archive and guarded by armed cops – said they were using “article L.213-2” of their “heritage code” to prohibit access.The code states certain national archives should be shielded from public view for at least 75 years from their completion date.As the file was finished in 2007, it will be kept secret until 2082 at the earliest - though it is understood authorities have the power to review this so it may never been seen.A spokesman for the Palais de Justice denied the Daily Star access after weeks of requests to view it by stating: “The investigation file is placed in the archives of the Paris Court of Appeal.“In application of article L213-2 of the heritage code, it cannot be consulted before the expiration of a period of 75 years.”.They added: “There is no online version of this archive.When they pressed French authorities to provide justification for using an obscure rule to lock away the Diana evidence file, a spokesman for the Palais de Justice brushed off our request by adding: “Just keep sending letters.”.In 2007, French authorities claimed they had lost the 6,000-page file.They said it had been misplaced just weeks ahead of the £12.5million inquest into Diana’s death held in Britain that lasted from 2007 to 2008.The file took three years to compile and was the work of 30 police officers.It contains thousands of pages detailing the statement of around 200 witnesses statements, along with the results of forensic tests on Di’s drunk chauffeur Henri Paul, never-before-seen photos of the crash scene and of those who died, as well as crucial interviews with all those involved in one of the biggest investigations in global legal history.But lawyer Jean-Louis Pelletier – who represented Paris paparazzi Fabrice Chassery in the wake of Di’s death – said in 2007 when he asked to view the dossier, he was told it had disappeared.Mr Pelletier said he needed to view the dossier because his client Mr Chassery, who arrived at the crash scene on the night Diana died on August 31, 1997, was being pursued for manslaughter over the crash.He said in 2007: “When I went in to the court to ask to see the files, I was told they weren’t there.“I know files go missing from time to time, but bearing in mind the size and importance of this particular one, it is extraordinary.”.It is believed partial photocopies of the dossier – said to be stacked “floor to ceiling” in a room devoted to the records in the Palais de Justice basement – were sent to Lord Stevens who headed the British investigation into Diana’s Paris crash.But the copies were never made public as original documents are often only admissible in court hearings.In 2006 it was also revealed photos held by French authorities showing Diana and her lover Dodi at the crash scene had also vanished.The file is being held by the Court of Appeal in Paris, which is housed in the Palais de Justice on the Boulevard du Palais in the Île de la Cité – an island in the Sienne river, central Paris.

A British lawyer working on the Diana inquest said in 2007 when French authorities clamed the mountain of paperwork had disappeared: “It is scarcely believable that such crucial evidence could be lost just weeks before the inquest.The disappearance of the file cast doubts at the time over whether all the evidence gathered by the French authorities was handed to former Scotland Yard chief Lord Stevens who led the Diana inquest in the UK.It concluded Diana, 36, and her lover Dodi Al Fayed, 42, had been unlawfully killed on 31 August 1997, blaming the S-280 Mercedes crash on grossly negligent driving by pursuing paparazzi and chauffeur Henri Paul, 41, who also died in the smash.Di’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, now 52, survived the crash but had horrific injuries including every bone in his face broken.