Mohammed Al Fayed wants Squidgygate tapes played at Diana inquest

Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed has asked that Princess Dianas Squidgygate tapes, which feature her talking affectionately on the telephone to a male friend, be considered at the inquest into her, and his son Dodis death.

London, Sept 6 : Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed has asked that Princess Diana's "Squidgygate" tapes, which feature her talking affectionately on the telephone to a male friend, be considered at the inquest into her, and his son Dodi's death.

The "Squidgygate" conversation took place on December 31, 1989, when Diana called her close friend James Gilbey on his mobile while staying at Sandringham.

During the calls, Gilbey affectionately called Diana by the names "Squidgy" and "Squidge."

In the conversation, Diana criticised the Royal Family and described her life with Charles as "torture".

The existence of the tapes, thought to be secretly recorded by amateur radio enthusiast, was revealed by The Sun in 1992, and their publication was a highpoint of the "War of the Waleses" that accelerated the separation and eventual divorce of The Prince and Princess of Wales.Diana later claimed that the tapes were made by members of the security services who had bugged her calls, and who leaked them in order to discredit her.

Mr Al Fayed's lawyer Michael Mansfield QC, insisted in the High Court at the last preliminary hearing before the case, that the tapes were important as they showed Diana's state of mind.

"The significance to the case of what she (Diana) believed throughout the 1990s is that she was being monitored... by the security services," the Daily Mail quoted Mansfield, as saying.

ANI