London, March 1: The Paris car crash which killed Princess Diana, could have been a scare tactic that went wrong, the inquest into her death has heard.

Princess Diana’s lover Dodi al-Fayed’s father Mohamed al-Fayed has already testified at the hearing, claiming that his son, who died along with the princess in the 1997 crash, was "slaughtered" with Diana because she was pregnant with his child and the couple were about to be engaged.

Fayed's lawyer Michael Mansfield, QC, told the inquest that in reaching its verdict the jury would have the "difficult task of looking at the evidence and seeing where it drives you".

However, Richard Horwell, QC, for the Metropolitan Police, told the hearing: "There has been an important statement this morning. We are moving away from a planned assassination to a planned scare in a car.”

“The suggestion now is that the Duke of Edinburgh takes against the partner of the Princess of Wales, of some four or five weeks standing, and he orders that MI6 scare the occupants of a car in Paris that night and MI6 took the order and crashed it within a very short period of time,” he added.

An MI6 controller between 1992 and 1994, with responsibility for more than 100 MI6 employees, was present in the witness box, reports The Sun.

Horwell asked the MI6 controller, identified only as E: "What in your opinion are the prospects of MI6 getting involved in such an operation?"

The controller replied: "Nil."

Mansfield had explained: "If it was not an accident, what was it and how could it be organised, and for what reason?"

Three MI6 officials who were all in Paris at the time of the crash each told the court that they didn’t have any knowledge of Diana’s presence in the city at the time.

One official who was head of the MI6 station in Paris in August 1997 revealed that the “overwhelming thrust” of their work then was in counter-terrorism.

An MI6 policy-making official insisted that the organisation, or even rogue elements of it, did not kill people.

Identified only as 6, he said: “Our processes were broad and deep and were adhered to.”

Diana, Dodi and driver Henri Paul were killed in a Paris car crash in the Alma Tunnel in August 1997. (ANI)