Diana, Princess of Wales

[Petra1997]

Di's death car for sale
* Owner hopes to cash in on its history
* Believes it will fetch $2.2m

THE company that owns the Mercedes involved in Princess Diana's Paris crash wants to cash in on the car's history.

It is believed the car could fetch £1 million ($2.2 million).

The wreckage of the black S280, which hit an underpass wall killing Princess Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul, has been in a secure Metropolitan Police compound in South London since July, 2005.

It was shipped from France for examination before the inquest into Diana's death, which five months ago ruled it was accidental.

Jean-Francois Musa, manager of Paris-based Etoile Limousines, is now demanding the car back, saying: "It's worth a great deal of money."

Mr Musa said his company had never received any compensation after the crash.

"It's completely illegal that police should have been able to take the car away from us without compensation," Mr Musa said.

"... Nobody has the right to dispose of the car except us."

He also says he will offer it to Dodi's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, although last night the Harrods owner rejected the idea as disgusting.

A spokesman for Mr Al Fayed told Britain's The Mail on Sunday newspaper: "It's disgusting to think that someone wants to profit from the tragedy. Mr Al Fayed is not interested in pursuing this in any way."

The newspaper said Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, want the Mercedes disposed of "privately and discreetly".

"The princes want a line drawn under the affair," a senior royal aide was quoted as saying in the report.

It added that informal offers to buy the wreck had come from all over the world, mainly the US.

An eighteen-month French judicial investigation concluded in 1999 that the car crash that killed Diana was caused by the driver Henri Paul, who lost control of the car at high speed while intoxicated and under the influence of antidepressants.

The Mail on Sunday report said former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens, who headed the Operation Paget investigation into Diana's death, was negotiating with French authorities to return the Mercedes to France.