London: Britain's Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed were unlawfully killed in a 1997 car crash due to "grossly negligent" driving of their chauffeur and the paparazzi trailing their car, the jury in her inquest said today, setting at rest conspiracy theories about her death.

The Paris crash more than ten years ago was caused by the speed and the way Henri Paul was driving the couple's Mercedes on the night of August 31 as well as the photographers in pursuit, the jury ruled.

Coroner Lord Justice Scott told the jurors they could not find the crash was an "unlawful killing by the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip) or anyone else in a staged accident".

The jury had to decide if the deaths had been an accident, unlawful killing by negligence, or unexplained. They could not find they had been murdered.

The couple died when their speeding car slammed into a concrete pillar while it was being chased by photographers in cars and on motorbikes. The jury also said that the fact that neither of them were wearing seatbelts was a contributing factor to their death.

Source : PTI