Fayed challenges coroner-only hearing

LONDON, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Mohamed Al Fayed has challenged a London High Court decision against appointing a jury for inquests into the deaths of his son Dodi, and Princess Diana.

Princess Diana, 36, and Dodi Fayed, 42, died when their Mercedes crashed in a tunnel in Paris in 1997.

Mohamed Al Fayed applied for permission to seek judicial review of a decision made by the coroner, Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, to sit alone on the case, the Daily Mail said.

Butler-Sloss said only a coroner could give the "careful and fully reasoned decision" needed. The inquest is scheduled to begin in May.

His application was being heard at the same time as an application brought by the parents of Henri Paul, the chauffeur who also died.

A three-year inquiry found no evidence of a murder conspiracy. The inquiry report said Paul was speeding and over the legal drink-drive limit.

Fayed criticized the decision of Butler-Sloss to support publication of the findings of the former head of Scotland Yard who conducted the inquiry.

"If the public is to have confidence in the verdicts that will eventually be reached, it is essential that the public should be fully involved," Fayed said.