Hasnat Khan tells Diana inquest that Princess left him for Dodi

Hasnat Khan, the heart surgeon described as the love of Princess Diana's life, has told the inquest into her death that it was she who ended their two-year relationship after meeting Dodi Fayed. In a statement read out to the High Court jury, Khan said it happened shortly after she returned from a holiday with the Fayed family in August 1997.
 
Khan said he suspected Diana had met somebody else on that trip as she did not seem "her normal self". "I did not know who it was. It could have been a bodyguard or anyone," he said in his statement. "I was surprised when she said there was no-one else." At a second meeting, just weeks before she died in a car crash in Paris, Diana told Khan that the affair was over, but still denied that anyone else was involved. Khan only learned of Diana's relationship with Dodi from media reports following her death, he added.
 
Khan's version runs counter to earlier testimony at the inquest that stated it was he who had broken off the affair as he could no longer bear the media interest. Rosa Monckton, a close confidant of Diana, said the princess had no plans to marry Dodi and that she was still infatuated with Khan. In his testimony Khan said that he was unhappy with the press intrusion into their relationship but he had been hoping they might escape this by moving to Pakistan. His main concern, the inquest heard, was that "my life would become hell because of who she was".
 
The 48-year-old surgeon had refused to give direct evidence via video-link from his home in Pakistan. Instead, the jury heard the full statement he gave to British police four years ago. That statement also revealed how, after news of Khan's relationship with Diana became public, he was sent hate mail including cut-out pictures of himself with a noose around his neck. ·