LONDON, Jan 6: Britain's Princess Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed were the victims of a "horrendous murder", Fayed's father, the Egyptian-born tycoon Mohamed al-Fayed , insisted on Tuesday after the first inquests were opened here into the deaths of the pair in a 1997 Paris car crash.

The businessman, who owns Harrods department store in London and the Paris Ritz hotel, said he was now "hoping that the truth will come out". Al-Fayed has long claimed that Diana, 36, and Dodi, 42, were the victims of foul play.

He has contended that the Paris crash was masterminded, possibly by secret agents on order from high up, to stop Diana from marrying his son. Diana and Dodi, along with their driver Henri Paul, died on August 31, 1997, when their black Mercedes-Benz limousine rammed into a pillar in an underpass beneath the Pont de l'Alma in Paris.

Following a two-year investigation, French authorities concluded that the accident was chiefly the result of Paul driving too fast under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs - but conspiracy theories have persisted.-AFP