LONDON, April 24 (UPI) -- Elizabeth Butler-Sloss said Tuesday she was withdrawing as coroner for Princess Diana's inquest in London because she lacked experience for the jury hearing.
In a statement, Butler-Sloss, said the inquest requires a jury "and I do not have the degree of experience of jury cases that I feel is necessary and appropriate for presiding over inquests of this level of public interest," the (London) Daily Telegraph reported. Butler-Sloss originally decided the inquest would be conducted without a jury but the decision was overruled.
Her announcement raised the possibility of further delays in the inquest into the deaths of Diana and her companion Dodi Fayed, which are to begin in October.
Butler-Sloss said she would conduct pre-inquest hearings until she officially steps aside in June, when Lord Justice Scott Baker will take over. He will be the third person to oversee the inquest, which has yet to get fully under way in the nearly 10 years since Princess Diana, Fayed and their driver were killed in a Paris auto accident.
