Tv Show Serves Up Di's Butler To Police
Sun Herald
Sunday January 21, 2001
PRINCESS Diana's butler was arrested over the alleged theft of a $1.2 million wedding gift after police saw the contents of his home on a British TV program.
The Sun newspaper said yesterday detectives probing the disappearance of the diamond-encrusted model ship were able to check on Paul Burrell's possessions frame by frame after he allowed TV cameras into his Cheshire home last June.
Burrell's Victorian cottage was featured in the BBC show Through The Keyhole, in which a presenter tours the homes of mystery celebrities and a studio panel has to guess who it is.
A police source told The Sun: ``It was a perfect opportunity to look at what he had."
Burrell, so trusted by Diana that she called him her ``rock", wept during the 6am raid on the property where he lives with his wife and two children.
Floorboards were ripped up during the search, which lasted 12 hours.
Burrell, 42, was held for 16 hours before being bailed from Runcorn police station in Cheshire, 400km from London.
He was quizzed by police about the 60cm-long Arab dhow, given to Diana and Prince Charles by the Emir of Bahrain.
It vanished from Kensington Palace after Diana's death in a Paris car crash in 1997 and was found on sale in a London antiques shop last year.
Burrell is also understood to have been questioned about missing hats and dresses.
Officers from Scotland Yard's arts and antiques squad asked for a tape of the TV show, hosted by Sir David Frost, and then analysed paintings, antiques and furnishings at Burrell's home.
Sources told the newspaper the detectives had been ``assisted" by the program.
Meanwhile Burrell has vowed to clear his name after a ``shattering" night in the cells.
He told The Mirror: ``I am completely innocent. I would never betray Princess Diana's memory."
© 2001 Sun Herald