London: Scotland Yard has launched a probe into fresh claims that Princess Diana was murdered by a member of the British military and is examining the "relevance and credibility" of the new information, ahead of her 16th death anniversary.
The move to assess the the information has been approved by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Scotland Yard's senior-most officer.
However, the Metropolitan police stressed that it is "not a re-investigation" into the deaths of the Princess of Wales, her partner Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
"The Metropolitan Police Service is scoping information that has recently been received in relation to the deaths and assessing its relevance and credibility," it said in a statement here yesterday.
"The assessment will be carried out by officers from the specialist crime and operations command. This is not a re-investigation and does not come under Operation Paget," the statement said.
"On April 7, 2008, the (inquest) jury concluded their verdict as 'unlawful killing, grossly negligent driving of the following vehicles and of the Mercedes'," it said.
In December 2006, Operation Paget, the police investigation into allegations that the princess and Al Fayed were murdered, had concluded, just like a French investigation in 1999, that driver Paul had been drunk and driving at excessive speed.
The development comes ahead of next week's 16th anniversary of the Princess' death as a result of injuries she suffered when the Mercedes in which she was travelling crashed in a tunnel in Paris.
Since then, murder claims have continued to be made but have never been looked into by the British police.
The new allegations come from the estranged parents-in-law of "Soldier N", an SAS soldier who was a key witness in the successful prosecution of Sergeant Nightingale.
He was himself convicted of illegal weapons possession.
His estranged wife's parents wrote to the SAS' commanding officer claiming the soldier had told his wife that the unit had "arranged" the Princess' death and that this had been "covered up".
Scotland Yard detectives have reportedly contacted the former soldier's estranged wife.
A royal spokesperson said there would be no comment from Diana's sons Princes William and Harry.
