DIANA, Princess of Wales, kept a signet ring belonging to her former lover, James Hewitt, in a locked wooden box containing some of her most personal and secret possessions, a jury at the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

The story of the ring was deemed so sensitive and potentially hurtful to her sons, Princes William and Harry, that it was not read out in open court during the trial of her butler, Paul Burrell, last week.

Instead, details were scribbled on a piece of paper by Detective Sergeant Roger Milburn, a police witness, and handed to the judge, Mrs Justice Rafferty, on Friday.

Mr Milburn told the court only that the box, which disappeared after the Princess’s death, contained a very sensitive piece of jewellery. The judge then adjourned the case early for the weekend.

However, yesterday morning, she decided that the press and public could be told that the item was a ring once worn by Mr Hewitt, a former cavalry officer.

Mr Milburn, one of the senior officers who raided Mr Burrell’s house in Fardon, Cheshire, on January 18 last year, was cross-examined yesterday. He said that he had been asked to look for the contents of the box by Lady Sarah McCorquodale, the Princess’s sister.

The court was told last week that the box was opened by Mr Burrell and Lady Sarah after the Princess’s death when the key was discovered in a tennis racket cover.

William Boyce, QC, for the prosecution, said on Friday that Lady Sarah asked Mr Burrell to keep the contents safe but “never saw the contents of that chest again”.

Mr Milburn said yesterday that neither the ring nor the other items allegedly in the box, including letters from the Duke of Edinburgh, a letter of resignation from Patrick Jephson, the Princess’s former private secretary, and cassettes from a former Kensington Palace employee, were found during the 12-hour search.

Mr Burrell told police that he did not know where the items were and denied ever having removed them.

Mr Milburn told the court that Mr Burrell’s wife, Maria, answered the door when the search team arrived at his house at 7am. Mr Burrell came downstairs in his dressing-gown and was arrested and cautioned.

The court was told that he was asked whether he had taken anything from Kensington Palace and replied “no”.

However, Lord Carlile, QC, for the defence, suggested that Mr Milburn had spoken further to Mr Burrell. He said: “You said that Lady Sarah has asked you to retrieve a box containing personal documents and that if the box was produced you would not go on to search the house?” Mr Milburn replied: “That is completely untrue.”

During the course of the cross-examination, Lord Carlile repeatedly criticised the police investigation. He asked why items found in the house had not been photographed or recorded on videotape.

He said that, when the home of Mr Burrell’s brother, Graham, was searched, potential evidence was recorded on videotape. Mr Milburn admitted that, in hindsight, it would have been better if the contents of Mr Burrell’s house had also been recorded.

Lord Carlile invited Mr Milburn to justify police trips to the United States and Italy to interview potential witnesses.

Referring to more than 3,000 photographic negatives discovered at Mr Burrell’s house, Lord Carlile asked: “Did you or any of your colleagues find any letter or record showing him offering on the market at home or abroad a single photograph from those negatives?” Mr Milburn replied: “No, we did not.”

Mr Milburn said that police had looked into the state of Mr Burrell’s finances. Lord Carlile asked if he had spoken to the Princess’s friends to determine the nature of her relationship with Mr Burrell.

When he replied “no”, the QC said: “Not even to try and get a picture if he was not merely a butler, but something much more, a servant who was, quite properly, an extremely close friend of the Princess?” Mr Burrell, 44, denies stealing 310 items from the Princess, the Prince of Wales and Prince William.

The trial continues.

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