Diana's butler won't face perjury probe

LONDON (Reuters) - Princess Diana's butler Paul Burrell will not face a police investigation into allegations he committed perjury at the inquest into her death, Scotland Yard said on Friday.

The inquest's presiding judge had questioned the veracity of Burrell's answers during a three-day appearance in January.

Burrell was repeatedly asked how much he really knew about secrets he was supposed to have held for Diana, who died in a Paris road tunnel with her lover Dodi al-Fayed in 1998.

"It was blindingly obvious wasn't it, that the evidence that he gave in this courtroom was not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," Lord Justice Scott Baker told the inquest jury.

In February, Scott Baker asked Burrell to return to court to explain discrepancies between his evidence and comments attributed to him in a tabloid newspaper, but he refused.

Referring to Burrell's testimony, Scott Baker told the jury: "I advise you to proceed with caution especially when and if you are left with the impression that he only told you what he wanted you to hear."

The Metropolitan Police had been looking into allegations that Burrell had committed perjury after receiving a complaint last month.

On Friday it said it had decided against an investigation after reviewing the available evidence and consulting with both Scott Baker and the Crown Prosecution Service.

"As a result we have reached the decision that there is insufficient admissible evidence to prove that an offence of perjury has occurred and therefore do not believe it to be appropriate to instigate a police investigation," it said.

The inquest ended last month with the jury finding that Diana and al-Fayed were unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of their chauffeur and paparazzi photographers pursuing them.

(Reporting by Tim Castle)

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