Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, has told how a mystery caller threatened to murder his family and blow up his flower shop.

Mr Burrell told Chester Crown Court that the calls to his florist’s shop in Farndon, Cheshire, began on June 14th 2011 and during a series of abusive messages, the caller also accused Mr Burrell of ‘extorting money’ from the Royal Family.

The most disturbing call referred to Mr Burrell’s wife, Maria, in which he was told that she had been kidnapped. This was not the case, and when the police placed a trace on the line, the phone calls were linked to the mobile phone of 50-year-old Slav Mitev.

Mr Burrell told the jury that ten years ago there had been an arson attack on his previous shop: “I was very nervous and thought ‘My goodness, it is going to happen again’. I live above the premises and I thought that if this happens, I could be caught up in the fire.”