Scotland Yard's Final Public Report on the SAS "Scoping" Investigation
- The Concluding Summary
Scopinq [sic] Exercise re: Diana, Princess of Wales and Mr Dodi Al Fayed
Format note: As a result of the significant public and press interest in this investigation, this concluding report is written in such a format as to allow it to be released into the public domain when appropriate.
As such, it provides clear conclusions drawn from the scoping exercise, and talks in some detail about the nature and extent of that scoping.
In order to respect privacy, and in part for legal reasons, it does not name any individuals that were spoken to as a part of the scoping.
As a result of information received on 16 August 2013, the Metropolitan Police Service Specialist Crime and Operations Command commenced a scoping exercise to assess the credibility and relevance of allegations that members, or former members, of the Special Air Service (SAS) were involved in the circumstances leading to the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, Mr. Dodi Al Fayed, and Mr. Henri Paul on 31st August 1997 in Paris, France.
The circumstances of those deaths were thoroughly investigated by the Metropolitan Police Service at the time and were examined in detail during 2007 and 2008 in inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Mr. Dodi Al Fayed led by Lord Justice Scott Baker at The Royal Courts of Justice.
· On 7th April 2008 the jury delivered verdicts of 'unlawful killing, grossly negligent driving of the following vehicles and of the Mercedes"
Over the past three months, a team comprising of seven MPS Officers has undertaken the work to scope the information that has been provided, and to test its veracity. That team has included a Detective Chief Superintendent, a Detective Chief Inspector and a Detective Sergeant who have a detailed knowledge of the previous investigation and the subsequent judicial process.
Additionally, a further four officers with no prior involvement (Detective Superintendent. two Detective Inspectors and a Detective Constable) have been part of the team pursuing viable lines of enquiry with an
open and objective approach.
Due to the unique nature of the circumstances and depite [sic] the limited nature of the originating information, the work has been undertaken to a very detailed level of scrutiny and probing, and has been overseen by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt. He has had no prior involvement In the case.
As part of the scoping exercise the team has liaised closely with West Mercia Police Dyfed Powys Police. West Midlands Police, the Royal Military Police, the Ministry of Defence and Special Forces Directorate.
All of these bodies have given full co-operation and assistance.
In addition the team has liaised with the legal representatives of witnesses and family members Officers on the team have also reviewed additional investigations and information that have been deemed relevant to the scoping exercise, despite not having been part of the originating information.
· This has included one specific piece of information suggesting that a similar comment had been made by a person unrelated to the initial information. This has been fully examined, and the same conclusions have been reached about this information, as have been drawn about the originating information.
As part of this scoping exercise the team has been given unprecedented access to Special Forces Directorate records and have taken eight statements.
Within the accounts provided, contradictions exist as to whether individuals did or did not, make claims or assertions that people associated with The Special Air Service had some involvement in the deaths of
Diana, Princess of Wales, Mr Dodi Al Fayed, and Mr. Henri Paul.
It is not possible to prove conclusively what was, or was not said. It is, however, very clear that in the extraordinary publicity and conjecture that followed the deaths and the inquests, there will have been those
who, for whatever motivation, will have sought to demonstrate particular inside knowledge, or to claim some form of kudos or recognition.
The Detective Superintendent on the team has personally examined The Special Forces Directorate records, and has been given unprecedented access to all documents that it was necessary to examine as part of the scoping.
This has confirmed that for the material time period, there was no relevant operation, assignment, intelligence gathering or deployment that had any links to Paris, and no evidence to support a claim that
there was any involvement of The Special Air Service Regiment in any plot to cause the deaths.
· Much has been made in the media of the so-called 'black box' at Hereford, through which, it is alleged, unofficial tasking can be made for serving or former members of the regiment. No evidence whatsoever has been found to support the existence of such a box, notwithstanding the fact that this story now appears to
have passed into 'folk-lore'.
Formal statements have been provided by both the Director Special Forces, and the Commanding Officer of 22 Special Air Service Regiment who categorically deny the existence of such a box. The conclusion of the
scoping exercise is that no such box or tasking arrangements exist.
As is inevitable during such a scoping exercise, other information and allegations emerge as a result of the attendant publicity, which are not directly related to the matter at hand. Where appropriate, these have
been referred to the Police Force for the relevant UK jurisdiction.
Information that has been received from members of the public that did appear to be relevant to the circumstances of the deaths has been systematically reviewed. None has been found to be genuinely 'new' relevant evidence.
Throughout this scoping exercise, every reasonable line of enquiry has been objectively pursued in order to fully evaluate any evidence that might be available to support this extremely serious allegation.
· The strong conclusion of the scoping exercise is that whilst there is a possibility that the alleged comments (referring to SAS involvement in the deaths) may have been made, there is absolutely no credible evidence to support a theory that such claims had any basis in fact.
No credible evidence has been found to support any assertion or claim that members or former members of The Special Air Service Regiment were in any way involved in the three deaths.
There is no doubt that with the level of public interest in this case, there will continue to be a considerable level of theorizing and speculation.
Based on a thorough scoping exercise by experienced and senior detectives, the conclusion is that there is no evidence that would cause The Metropolitan Police Service to refer matters back to the Coroner, and that
there is no evidential basis to justify a re-opening of the investigation into the deaths.
Note to readers:
It is particularly notable that Scotland Yard have failed to post their above report onto their own website. Instead they have provided only a very short summarised version.
The police released the report shown above to Sky News on Monday 16 December 2013.
It is particularly notable that Scotland Yard have failed to post their above report onto their own website. Instead they have provided only a very short summarised version.
The police released the report shown above to Sky News on Monday 16 December 2013.