London, March 5: The ex head of royal protection has been accused of "lying" over how gravely he took claims that Princess Diana was being bugged.

The inquest into her death heard that retired Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner David Meynell avoided a full investigation following the embarrassing "Squidgygate" tapes, because he suspected the secret services could have been involved.

Testifying at the London inquest, Meynell dismissed the suggestion, made by Michael Mansfield QC, for Mohamed al-Fayed, as "ridiculous,” reports the Scotsman.

Meynell said that he had got a special police team, which usually operates in the Houses of Parliament or the Palace of Westminster, to clear Kensington Palace and Diana’s car for bugs.

However, he said that no record of the check was made and that he did not tell Diana that her home had been given the all-clear.

The Squidgygate tapes, in which Diana was secretly recorded talking on the telephone to her former lover James Gilbey, were made in 1989 and became public three years later. (ANI)