FORMER Bermuda resident Lana Marks is expected to testify in the high-profile trial of Princess Diana's former butler in London.

Mrs. Marks, who has claimed to have been a close confidante of the late Princess of Wales, is reported to be one of the witnesses for the defence in the trial of Paul Burrell who is accused of stealing hundreds of items from Diana and other members of the British Royal Family.

The case at the Old Bailey criminal court started this week and has already generated hundreds of column inches in Britain's national press.

Mrs. Marks, who was Bermuda's number one female tennis player and the Mid-Ocean News tennis correspondent when she was living on the island in the 1980s, is now a handbag designer who has attached Princess Diana's name to some of her products.

The South African-born Mrs. Marks also made local headlines with a court-room appearance in Bermuda in 1982.

On that occasion, she and her husband, psychiatrist Dr. Neville Marks, were convicted under immigration laws, after being found guilty of employing a South African nanny without permission and keeping her under slave-like conditions.

A story in the latest issue of People magazine reports: "Burrell's star witnesses are expected to be Diana's close friends, socialite Lucia Flecha de Lima, handbag designer Lana Marks and Susie Kassem, an interior designer."Mrs. Marks became a fashion designer after leaving Bermuda for Florida and has made a name for herself with her chain of luxury handbags and accessories stores. She continues to use the name of the Princess on some of her products, such as the Princess Diana handbag, made from alligator skin.

And Mrs. Marks has also sold alligator belts, advertised as "as worn by Diana" on her 1996 visits to Angola and Bosnia to generate publicity for a campaign against landmines.

Mrs. Marks came in for criticism from London's Sunday Times newspaper in 1999 for her use of Diana's name on her products, under the headline, "With friends like these . . ."

The paper reported that the executors of Diana's memorial fund, when offered some of the profits from sales of the handbags, deemed Mrs. Marks' Princess Diana handbag marketing ploy "deeply inappropriate".

Mrs. Marks has stores in American sites at Aspen, Palm Beach, Beverly Hills and Madison Avenue, New York.

Her handbags, made from crocodile, ostrich, lizard and alligator, sell for up to $5,000 each.

The theft trial resumed yesterday with a fresh jury and an edict from the judge that some evidence can be suppressed to protect the late princess's sons, William and Harry.

Justice Anne Rafferty halted the trial on Wednesday - its third day - and dismissed the jury without public explanation. Court orders forbid reporting why she dismissed the jury so soon after the start of the trial.

Burrell - whom Diana called "my rock" - is accused of taking more than 300 items between January 1, 1997 and June 30, 1998. The property allegedly included letters, photos, and compact discs owned by Diana, Prince Charles or their son, Prince William, at Kensington Palace, Diana's London home.

The first prosecution witness began giving evidence on Tuesday. But Wednesday's court proceedings were delayed by legal argument before Judge Rafferty dismissed the jury.

Following complaints from journalists covering the trial at London's Old Bailey court that certain evidence had been shown to the first jury alone, Judge Rafferty ruled yesterday that the interests of the young princes had to be considered in revealing details of the case.

The trial continues today.