The inquests of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed suffered a fresh blow yesterday when Baroness Butler-Sloss dramatically announced that she was stepping down as coroner.

Lady Butler-Sloss, 74, is to leave in June, citing “lack of experience” in dealing with a jury case and in presiding over inquests “of this level of public interest”.

Lady Butler-Sloss’s place will be taken by a Court of Appeal judge, Lord Justice Scott Baker — the third person to take charge of the inquests which are still waiting to start nearly ten years after the death of the Princess and Dodi Fayed in a Paris car crash.

Lady Butler-Sloss said that she had come to her decision after a great deal of thought. The decision, according to lawyers yesterday, was not a complete surprise. One legal source said: “You have a bunch of extremely experienced barristers on both sides, all wily and experienced trial lawyers — and she was coming from a family background where in most cases people are concerned about the welfare of the child and there is not the same adversarial cut and thrust.”

Another added: “We have seen this coming for some time. She has been all at sea, asking, for instance, about what powers she had to protect photographs from disclosure.”

At another hearing Lady Butler-Sloss, who seemed unusually vulnerable minus her wig and regularly seeking advice from the highly experienced criminal barristers before her, expressed concern about the mountain of evidence. Could it, she asked, be put on computer? “And can the juries have computer screens?”

But other lawyers — while commending her honesty — said that the move was damaging. One said: “It looks as if first we can’t get the right appointment and then the person can’t make the right decisions.”

In her statement Lady Butler-Sloss — who was brought out of retirement last autumn after Michael Burgess, Coroner to the Royal Household and Surrey Coroner, pleaded pressure of work — said: “This was a decision I took in the interests of the inquests after a great deal of thought and reflection.

“These inquests now require a jury, and I do not have the degree of experience of jury cases that I feel is necessary and appropriate for presiding over inquests of this level of public interest.”

The Judicial Communications Office said yesterday that her departure would not mean any delay and Lady Butler-Sloss added: “I must stress this does not require a fresh start for the inquests — I will continue to preside over preinquest hearings until Lord Justice Scott Baker takes up the appointment in June.

“This will ensure the inquests’ momentum is maintained while he will have the opportunity to familiarise himself with the voluminous paperwork associated with the inquests.”

But lawyers said that Lord Justice Scott Baker, who will be appointed assistant deputy coroner for Inner West London, will have a “mountain of paperwork” to read before he can begin.

The appointment of Lady Butler-Sloss last September was widely acclaimed: until 2005 she was Britain’s most senior family judge and at one point the most senior woman in the judiciary.

She had a reputation for fairness and efficiency tempered with compassion; and she had presided over some of the most sensitive “life and death” cases before the courts.

With more than 35 years’ experience, Lady Butler-Sloss was credited with helping by her example to open up the judicial system to women before she retired as President of the High Court Family Division after six years.

But from the start she appeared to be wrong-footed and out of her depth, suffering a series of successful challenges to her decisions.

In December, she backed down on holding the inquest preliminary hearings in private when Mohamed Al Fayed threatened legal action. She then suffered a significant setback when he won a judicial review against her decision to sit alone on the case and not to appoint a jury.

Then she had to concede that far from being completed by August, the tenth anniversary of the deaths, the inquests would have to be delayed from the planned start in May until October.

In two preliminary hearings it was hard to avoid the impression that Michael Mansfield, QC, appearing for Mr Al Fayed, was making all the running.

She remained alert and good-humoured but her even temper began to wear thin when it became clear that the inquest would stretch far into the future as Mr Mansfield and his team argued for yet more time.

Her decision will fuel the views of conspiracy theorists who believe that the inquest will never get to the truth of what happened in Paris a decade ago.

The hitches

August 31, 1997 Death of Diana, Dodi Fayed and their chauffeur Henri Paul

August 29, 2003 Michael Burgess, the Royal Coroner, announces that inquests on Diana and Dodi Fayed will go ahead

January 6, 2004 Diana and Dodi inquests opened and adjourned. Michael Burgess asks Sir John Stevens, then Met Police Commissioner, to hold inquiry into deaths

July 2006 Michael Burgess quits as coroner

“The cases will demand a good deal of time and a clear focus, free of distractions and, consequently, Mr Burgess has concluded that these two cases cannot properly be dealt with by a coroner who also has a heavy and constant workload of other cases” — September 2006 Lady Butler-Sloss takes on the task

December 14, 2006 Lord Stevens publishes findings and concludes the crash was a tragic accident.

“I have no doubt that speculation as to what happened that night will continue and that there are some matters about which we may never find a definitive answer.” — January 15, 2007 Lady Butler-Sloss announces there will be no jury

March 2007 Mohamed Al Fayed wins a judicial review — a jury will now sit on the inquest

“The jury must now be allowed to hear the entirety of the evidence, but I fear there will be attempts to keep it from them” — April 24, 2007 Lady Butler-Sloss announces she will step down

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