Diana’s driver tipped off paparazzi

The paparazzi, who were initially blamed for the Paris car crash in which Princess Diana was killed alongside...

The paparazzi, who were initially blamed for the Paris car crash in which Princess Diana was killed alongside her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed ten years back, may have been tipped off by their chauffeur Henri Paul. According to CCTV footage played at the Diana inquest yesterday, Paul was seen speaking to the photographers outside the Ritz Hotel in Paris on three occasions in the hours before the fatal crash, The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.

Until Paul spoke to them, none of the paparazzi went to the hotel’s rear entrance, where Diana and Dodi Fayed would later exit. Only after his conversations, they went to the back door where Paul could clearly be seen waving to them. At the inquest, even police Inspector Paul Carpenter, who compiled the footage, confirmed it to Michael Mansfield, the lawyer of Dodi’s father Mohammed Al-Fayed who insists that the chauffeur was in the payroll of the British secret service which plotted Diana and Dodi’s death on Prince Philip’s order.

Immediately after the crash in August 1997, 10 photographers were held on suspicion of causing the accident by driving too close to the couple’s Mercedes and distracting Paul with flash photography.

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After the footage was played at the Diana inquest, Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker cautioned the world media to treat the jury with respect during next week’s visit to Paris. The Coroner said that “extraordinary” pool of cameras was being allowed inside a police cordon to help the media. “In return you will not attempt to pursue this court with cameras outside the cordon or to contest the security operation around the cordon,” he told the media.

Justice Scott Baker also warned against identifying the members of the jury. “I turn to the important issue of preserving the integrity of the jurors. I and various counsel have no issue with the images you may take of us.

“However, the protection of the jurors’ identity is of particular concern and I ask you all, especially the foreign media who may not be used to such issues, to share that concern. These 11 people are performing an important public duty,” British tabloid The Sun quoted the Coroner as saying. The court will reconvene in Paris next Monday.