By JANE FRYER

Last updated at 13:31 09 January 2008

Spotting John Loughrey amid the sombre suits and hushed chat of the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand is not that tricky.

There's the mahogany fake tan ("I think I rather overdid it this morning - oh dear, it's all over my hands") and the constant greetings by court staff - "Welcome back, John", "Happy New Year", and "All set for this afternoon?"

Oh yes, and the three-inch tall "Diana" written across his forehead in wobbly blue letters and smaller "Dodi" on his cheeks either side of his shiny nose.

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"I've always been a Diana fan, but last year I woke up one day and decided to paint her name on my forehead - it just felt right," he says.

"All I knew was that it had to be blue, because it's a good colour - a royal colour and I know she liked it, so I've been wearing it ever since. She's very important to me."

So important, indeed, that he has spent 48 days - today will be his 49th - sitting extremely still on the same blue plastic chair in the public gallery of Court 73, watching the Diana inquest unfold before him.

"All I want is to see that the truth will out.

"And it's terribly gripping - you'll see what I mean in a minute."

And with that, the jury of six women and five men file in, followed by a rather bleary-looking Lord Justice Scott Baker, and the first session of 2008 kicks off with witness number 137, a man called Grahame William Harding who owns a security firm.

Court 73 is about as far from legal splendour as you can get.

There are banks of computer screens, ranks of modern blue chairs, dozens of grey-suited lawyers and a slightly musty smell of too many people cooped up in one room for too long.

On one side of the public gallery - a roped-off bit at the back - two journalists in crumpled suits get out their notebooks with a sigh.

On the other, a small band of Diana devotees - neat, tidy, grey-haired and armed with noisy carrier bags and clingfilmed sandwiches - mutter, rustle, exchange knowing glances and take important-looking notes as Grahame answers questions about his security business, and John looks like he's in heaven.

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John has long been a committed royalist - he was second in line for the Queen Mother's book of condolences, spent four nights sleeping rough in Kensington Gardens following Diana's death in 1997 and even slept out overnight in Hyde Park on the eve of the opening of the Diana Memorial Fountain.

"I was the only one and I felt very alone. Everyone loved her - where were they all?"

But his "quest for the truth" started last September, just after the tenth anniversary of Diana's death.

"I had a moment of revelation. It was late at night and I was standing outside Kensington Palace gates looking at the tributes and candles and suddenly I felt four fingers rest on my left shoulder and brush down towards my elbow.

"I knew it was Diana - I've never felt her so close before. So I knew what I had to do for her, whatever it took."

He certainly doesn't lack commitment. As well as giving up his job as a chef at a golf club, letting out his south London flat and moving in with his sister Geraldine in Enfield to help ends meet during the hearing - expected to run at least another three months until the beginning of April - he slept outside the court for the first three nights of the hearing.

"It was very wet and cold, but it was worth it because I was worried I might not get a seat," he says.

He needn't have. There are dozens of empty seats in court and the special Diana annex - an enormous white plastic marquee erected outside in one of the courtyards for overflow - is deserted.

"It doesn't make sense to me - I thought it'd be mobbed. Where is everyone else? Everyone loved her, but just look at all the empty seats...it doesn't seem right."

Empty seats or not, he's not taking any chances. His alarm goes off at 5am and he's here by 7am, waiting outside the main entrance.

Which, given the Royal Courts don't actually open until nine and there's never anyone else in the queue, isn't strictly necessary.

But as John puts it: "I was shocked on the first morning, really shocked - I was still the only person here at 8am, but that's not the point.

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"I don't want this to be handed to me on a plate. It's not meant to be easy."

Happily, although it's hardly full, at least he always has company in the public gallery.

Today there are nine of us and all are very friendly and welcoming.

They greet each other with nods and Happy New Years. All have favourite seats - John sits in the middle with a clear view of the Coroner and Michael Mansfield QC's lustrous silver hair - and exchange views on witnesses, cover-ups and whitewashes.

John is unusual in that he thinks Diana's death was a genuine accident and simply wants all loose ends tied up.

Others, members of the Diana Circle, are rather more strident.

So is there tension with the other "regulars"?

"I'm the only real regular, no one else has been every day," he clarifies quickly.

"I tend to get on with everyone, although I don't like all the chat from the Diana Circle - they say lots of nasty things about Camilla Parker Bowles, and talk about conspiracies, and play Candle In The Wind a lot."

So far, they must be a bit disappointed.

Since the hearing kicked off last October, there's been little to fuel their favourite theory that Diana and Dodi were killed by Britain's security services at the request of the Duke of Edinburgh, to stop their marriage and prevent the Princess giving birth to a Muslim baby.

"Some of them do tend to be a bit paranoid and seem to think there's a big conspiracy going on - you'll see what I mean."

And I do, the moment I get chatting to a very well-spoken lady with immaculate make-up and pretty coral nails, dressed in a plum-coloured tweedy jacket.

"I'd tell you my name, my dear, but when you've been threatened in the past and people have tried to kill you, it makes you more careful," she says cheerily.

"There are quite a few regulars, but first one has to differentiate which are MI5 and MI6 - they're everywhere.

"That couple who were here earlier, for example. He seemed a genuine man but he has the type of shoes that police wear, if you know what I mean."

It barely seems worth asking if she thinks Diana's death was an accident.

"I think there are a lot of people telling a lot of lies - I used to live with the mistress of a Viscount, in Fulham, so I've got inside knowledge - but dare I say that? Oh well, they want to kill me anyway."

Oh dear. Sitting next to me is a man called Lee- Jon who is researching his first book - "a sort of fact-cum-fiction version of Diana's death - very powerful."

In another corner is a nice lady called Susan who used to play the clarinet professionally and says she's related to both the Spencer and Windsor families ("I have photos that can prove it. My father is the son of Edward VIII - he had about 20 children.") Suddenly, John and his quest for the truth seem rather reassuring.

He might seem a touch eccentric, what with all the blue face paint, but he's kind and smiley, and his heart's in the right place - he's collecting the paper passes issued by the court each day so that he can one day sell his collection on eBay in aid of Prince Harry's Well Child charity.

"I feel it's my duty. I hate to blow my own trumpet, but I'm probably one of Diana's most loyal supporters ever. People say I'm her representative."

But how about Dodi? How has his name - admittedly in smaller letters but still very prominent - made it onto John's cheeks?

"I felt sorry for Mohamed Al Fayed. Dodi was killed as well, so it somehow didn't seem fair not to support him, too."

And the huge blue Diana on his forehead - isn't it all a bit of a palaver?

"My sister Geraldine paints it on with a little make-up brush.

"If I do it myself in the mirror, it's backwards and hard to get the letters the right way round."

Kind though Geraldine is, she won't get up at 5am for him: "She does it at night, so I have to sleep on my back, which I hate, so it doesn't smudge on the pillow."

And has he ever missed a day? "Oh no!" he says, looking appalled. "I wouldn't ...I couldn't, never!"

But doesn't it ever get the teeniest bit boring sitting there watching a bunch of lawyers banging on in court for five hours a day?

"Never. I love being with lawyers. I'm like a lawyer - I think the same way - a bit like Sherlock Holmes, so I feel very at home here.

"I find it so interesting, and I particularly like that Michael Mansfield QC."

Back in Court 73, one of the barristers has mentioned "dark forces" and a ripple of excitement passes through the gallery.

The next minute, Grahame the security man has confirmed that there was a device - most likely a bug - found in the wall of the Princess's bedroom, no less.

Clearly, this is big news. All the Diana devotees are sitting up like meerkats.

A muscle's going in John's cheek and a white-haired lady in the middle has snapped out of a slumber and is taking furious notes.

In fact, for a moment or two, it is genuinely exciting.

And then at 4.15pm, just as it's getting really gripping, the exhausted-looking judge rubs his eyes and adjourns proceedings for the day.

The Diana disciples are reluctant to leave the court room.

"Did you hear that - dark forces? I always said."

"I knew it wasn't an accident...See you Wednesday."

"Ooh, I love that Michael Mansfield. So masterful, and such good hair, don't you think?"

And with that, we bid our farewells - I trudge out into the rain, John heads up to the third floor to eat his sandwiches in peace and quiet, and the others linger in a tight little knot, nodding sagely and oohing and aahing.

Will I be joining them again? Probably not.

But for a one-off, Court 73 makes for a highly diverting day out and, according to my very excited new friends, it might even be Paul Burrell next week.

Just make sure you get there in plenty of time.