Henri Paul 'knew he shouldn't be driving', Diana inquest hears

Last updated at 15:40 03 December 2007

Henri Paul, the driver who was killed alongside Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed, knew he should not have been at the wheel of the Mercedes, a court heard today.

Mr Paul, acting head of security at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, decided to drive the Princess and Dodi to the latter's father Mohamed Al-Fayed's apartment in Rue Arsène Houssaye in the early hours of August 31, 1997.

An inquest into the Princess' death at the High Court in London heard how Mr Paul was reminded moments before setting off that it was not his job to drive the couple but said nothing.

Ritz night security manager Francois Tendil said he had seen no sign that his boss Mr Paul had been drinking that night, although blood tests after the crash showed he was over the drink-drive limit.

Mr Tendil told how an ill-fated plan was devised to evade paparazzi, by driving the couple from the back of the hotel while Dodi's usual driver, Philippe Dorneau, remained at the front as a decoy.

Mr Tendil said he believed Dodi, Mr Paul and two bodyguards, Trevor Rees and Kes Wingfield, had come up with the doomed plan in discussions, with Dodi himself playing a key part.

He said he only learned that Mr Paul himself was to drive just before he set off.

"My reaction was that it was not his duty to do so because we had drivers in the hotel," he told the court.

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He went on to say he told Mr Paul this but that he said nothing.

He told how Dodi had been extremely angry at the activities of the paparazzi who had followed him and Diana since their arrival in Paris earlier in the day.

The court heard he would have been able to see a growing crowd of photographers in the square outside from the window of the suite where he and Diana were dining.

"Due to the situation and what Dodi could see in front of the hotel, he decided at the last minute that Henri Paul could drive the car," he said.

"And the bodyguards did agree. Everybody agreed that, I would like to record that."

Under cross-examination by Michael Mansfield QC, representing Dodi's father Mr Al-Fayed, he conceded that it was Mr Paul and not Dodi who had personally told him of the decision.

Mr Mansfield asked: "You said it wasn't for him to drive the car and he just said nothing, is that right?"

He replied: "Yes that's right."

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The jury also heard from Mr Dorneau, who said it was the first time in his experience that Dodi had been pursued by the paparazzi.

He described how earlier that evening there had been photographers "everywhere" as they drove through Paris, prompting the decision to cancel a restaurant appointment and dine at the hotel instead.

He said Dodi was "mad, angry and annoyed" and, at one point, Diana had to calm him down.

Mr Al-Fayed is convinced the crash was staged by MI6 to assassinate Diana and stop her bearing Dodi's child, which he believes she was carrying.

But Mr Dorneau said he had concluded that ultimately, had the paparazzi not been there that night, the crash would not have happened.

He went to pick the couple up at Le Bourget airport earlier in the day in a specially-hired Mercedes, while Mr Paul drove Dodi's usual Range Rover.

On the way into the city they were followed by paparazzi attempting to take pictures, even overtaking them on the motorway before he took a sudden diversion on to a sliproad and lost them.

But later, outside Dodi's flat in the centre of Paris, he said a large crowd of paparazzi had gathered and followed them as they set off for dinner at a restaurant.

"They were everywhere," he said. "I started to drive and there were motorcycles everywhere, I remember that, on the pavement, on the road, everywhere."

Describing the subsequent journey itself he said: "They were behind, in front of us, on the side of the car, that's what bothered Dodi and that's why he decided to give up the restaurant idea and go back to the Ritz Hotel."

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He described the photographers as being "in no mood for nonsense", and "highly motivated".

The couple had been at the Ritz during the afternoon but their unexpected return just before 10pm left staff unsure what to do.

Mr Tendil told how he immediately called Mr Paul, who had gone off duty three hours before, on his mobile phone and he agreed to come back.

He said Mr Paul seemed "excited" but saw nothing to suggest he was drunk.

"I wouldn't say (that) was unusual because when you have that type of event to cope with you are all very excited," he said. "But otherwise it wasn't his temper to be like that."

He added that he did not know where Mr Paul had been in the intervening three hours and had not heard any background noise when he telephoned him that might have given a clue.

Mr Dorneau also said Henri Paul had appeared "perky and chatty" but that he did not get the impression he was drunk.

Richard Horwell, QC, representing the Metropolitan Police, asked him: "From everything that you had seen that evening, particularly the behaviour of the paparazzi ... did you conclude that if the paparazzi had not been there that night nothing would have happened?"

Mr Dorneau replied: "Exactly."

The inquest continues.

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