BRITAIN: Mr Paul Burrell, former butler to Princess Diana, drove to Kensington Palace in the middle of the night after her death and loaded his car with her possessions, an Old Bailey jury in London was told yesterday.
A policeman who challenged the former royal confidant at 3.30 a.m. was assured he was acting on the instructions of her family to destroy some sensitive items. The policeman asked: "Is it usual to do it at this hour?" Mr Burrell said he was just being discreet.
Mr Burrell's visit to Kensington Palace came after Diana died on August 31st, 1997, but prosecutors did not give an exact date. On the second day of Mr Burrell's theft trial, the jury also heard a long list of explanations he gave police for all of Diana's items they found at his house.
Mr Burrell (44) denies stealing 310 items belonging to the princess, Prince William and the Prince of Wales. When police searched his home in Farndon, Cheshire, on January 18th, 2001, Mr Burrell was so distressed there was concern that he had "suicidal tendencies", the court heard.
Yesterday, sitting in the dock of court No 1, Mr Burrell heard Mr William Boyce QC, prosecuting, recount the night he showed up at Kensington Palace.
"Mr Burrell came back carrying what appeared to be a mahogany-type box and put it in the rear of the car," he said. "He then disappeared again and returned with what appeared to be two evening dresses, and they, too, went into the car."
The barrister told the jury: "There was no reason for him to enter the apartment at 3.30 a.m. at that stage after the death."
Mr Boyce said Mr Burrell insisted he had "not got round" to returning some photographic negatives of Diana's wedding dress.
He had a Cartier clock because it was a gift she did not like, and she gave him a writing desk to help his sons do their homework, he was said to have told police.
After Diana's death, her sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, offered Mr Burrell the chance to have some of the princess's possessions, but he declined, said Mr Boyce.
"Having chosen not to select any items offered to him, they arranged to vary the will to give him £50,000," he said.