Court summons Diana butler over testimony

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell was Friday asked to return to court to explain discrepencies in his testimony to her inquest following newspaper claims that he gave misleading evidence under oath.

"The Coroner has asked Mr. Burrell to return to court to explain discrepancies between the evidence he gave to the inquests and the material which is contained in the transcripts of the recording taken by the Sun newspaper," a court statement said.

As Burrell is currently in the United States, UK authorities cannot force him to return. But U.S. authorities could decide otherwise.

The Sun newspaper earlier this month said it obtained the secret recording of Burrell. The judge presiding over the inquest, Lord Justice Scott Baker, said in he had requested the tape.

The Sun's headline read, "Butler admits perjury," but footage posted on the paper's Web site did not contain such an admission. Burrell was heard saying he didn't tell the inquest everything he knew and that he threw in some "red herrings."

"Perjury is not a very nice thing to have to consider," Burrell said in the tape. "I told the truth as far as I could, but I didn't tell the whole truth."

Burrell did not respond to repeated attempts by CNN to contact him for comment.

The Sun said the video was shot in New York while Burrell was on a business trip. The former butler is seen sitting on a couch with his legs crossed, speaking to someone out of view.

"I was very naughty and I made a couple of red herrings," he says regarding his testimony. "I know you shouldn't play with justice and I know it's illegal. I do realize how serious it is."

The inquest is the official British inquiry into the deaths of the princess and Fayed in a Paris car crash August 31, 1997. Proceedings began last October and are expected to last about six months.

The inquest takes account of the findings of French and British police, which conducted separate investigations into the crash. The reason the inquest took more than a decade to begin is that it had to wait for the police to reach their conclusions. Both police investigations found the crash was an accident.

Burrell's testimony over three days in mid-January did not include any bombshells, as many had expected from Diana's confidante -- a man whom the princess once called her "rock."

Burrell testified that Diana was not serious about her relationship with Fayed and did not welcome the idea of marriage with him. Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, testified Monday that the pair were engaged when they died.

The former butler also cast doubt on claims by Al Fayed that the queen's husband, Prince Philip, was behind an assassination plot.

Burrell delayed revealing a mysterious "secret" contained in Diana's last letter to him, but later told the judge it simply involved a banal plan to buy property abroad. E-mail to a friend

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