Brother-in-law of Diana denies directing murder plot

The brother-in-law of the late Princess of Wales denied allegationsthat he directed a plot to kill Diana, in testimonybefore the British inquest into her death on Tuesday.

Robert Fellowes, who is married to Diana's sister Jane, said he was in Norfolk, England, on Aug. 31, 1997 the night Diana, her companion Dodi al-Fayed and their driver were killed in a crash in a Paris tunnel.

Authorities say driver Henri Paul was to blame because he was drunk and driving too fast. Fayed's father, Harrods department store owner Mohamed al Fayed, argues the deaths were part of a monarchy-led conspiracy in opposition to what he claims was the couple's intent to marry. The status of the couple's relationship has been contested throughout the inquiry.

Fayed says Fellowes, a former private secretary to the Queen, participated in the murder plot by sending messages to an intelligence agency from the British Embassy in Paris shortly before the crash.

Fellowes testified that he was not involved and was not in France at the time. He said, "We were in Norfolk that evening, we had people to stay, we went to an entertainment by Mr. John Mortimer in Burnham Market church."

His testimony was backed up on Monday by Michael Jay, Britain's ambassador in Paris in 1997, who said Fellowes was not at the embassy that night.

The inquiry previously heard from Roberto Devorik, a friend of Diana's, thatthe princessthought Fellowes hated her.

"I'm sad if she felt that," Fellowes said. "Clearly the events of the 1990s made our relationship more complicated I was very fond of her then, as I always had been, and sad that she had not had a happier and more stable time in those troubled years."

Fellowes also testified that the Queen, like Diana, was concerned about the possibility of surveillance and that public rooms at Buckingham Palace were regularly swept for eavesdropping devices.

"I wouldn't say it was a constant preoccupation, but, yes, we needed reassurance at regular intervals that there was no bugging going on,"he said.

The British inquest into the deaths began Oct. 2. The jury's role is to determine how the victims died and has no authority to blame any individual for the deaths.