The coroner's jury, which had spent almost six months listening to more than 250 witnesses from around the world, reached their majority decision yesterday after deliberating for four days.

The jury had been told that a verdict of unlawful killing would mean that they believed the reckless behaviour of their driver and paparazzi amounted to manslaughter, and was the most serious verdict available to them.

The couple died when their Mercedes, travelling in excess of 95kmh, slammed into a concrete pillar while it was being chased by photographers in cars and on motorbikes.

The jury added that the fact that the pair were not wearing seatbelts was a contributing factor in their deaths.

The coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, had instructed the jury that there was no evidence to support claims by Mr al-Fayed's father Mohamed al-Fayed that the couple were victims of a murder plot directed by Prince Philip and carried out by British secret agents.

The jury was not at liberty to disagree.

The inquest, estimated to have cost up to US$20 million (S$28 million), stretched around the globe with witnesses heard by video-link from France, the United States, Nigeria, Kenya and Australia.

It was delayed for 10 years because Britain had to wait for the French legal process and then a British police investigation to run their course before it could begin.

Both police inquiries concluded the fatal crash was a tragic accident caused by the chauffeur Henri Paul being drunk and driving too fast.

Under British law, an inquest is needed to determine the cause of death when someone dies unnaturally.

Lord Justice Baker has expressed hope that the inquest will lay to rest, once and for all, persistent conspiracy theories about the princess' death.

REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS