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Dovercourt: 'Dodi love-child' woman in court

From the archive, first published Wednesday 21st Apr 1999.

A pathologist has rubbished the account of an alleged assault on the former Dovercourt woman who claimed to be the mother of Dodi Fayed's love-child.

Diane Holliday, 37, formerly of Dovercourt but now living in Little Saxham near Bury St Edmunds, appeared in court on Monday charged with wasting police time after she alleged she was savagely beaten in a roadside attack.

During the incident, at a service station at the junction of the A14 and A140 near Ipswich, Holliday suffered injuries to her head and hands before being found covered in blood by two businessmen.

In a police statement, taken days after the assault on February 17 last year, she said she received a cut to her head when she lunged towards a knife-wielding assailant who had climbed into her car.

She also said the wound to her hand, which needed eight stitches, was caused by her trying to defend herself.

However, a Home Office pathologist told Ipswich magistrates that the knife wounds Holliday received did not fit her description of the attack and were more likely to have been self-inflicted.

Dr Iain West said: "I feel her account was inconsistent with the injuries I could see in the photographs and did not explain the cut on the temple, the cut on her hand and the bruising on the right side of her head.

"This is not a wild slash, this was done under considerable control. I cannot understand how this would occur given her account."

Holliday, who denies the charge, claims her attacker was trying to steal evidence of the baby's paternity.

She said a DNA certificate and photographs of her and Dodi Fayed were in an envelope taken after she was assaulted and had her hands tied behind her back with electric wire.

But Patrick Fields, prosecuting, accused Holliday of stage-managing the attack.

Holliday hit the headlines when she claimed to be the mother of Mr Fayed's love-child.

She said she became pregnant by the late son of Harrods boss Mohammed Al Fayed following a seven-month affair and a girl, Marni, was born in November 1996 before being given up for adoption in America. Her claims were denied at the time.

The case continues.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.

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