DIANA - THE SECRETS BEHIND THE CRASH

Copyright Fulcrum Productions Limited June 1998
http://www.fulcrumtv.co.uk/
Transcript

starts

Sound of TV news - Nick Owen's news reports of the day the deaths were announced...date, news stings etc...

NICK V/O

It seems extraordinary after all this time that people still want to come and see where it happened, to leave messages, to lay flowers. It says an amazing amount about
what Diana meant to people. But it's a very strange feeling for me to come here, to know that this is where it all ended. The sadness doesn't go away.

NICK PTC

Now people will say that it's time to let the dead rest in peace, but to come here to Paris is to learn that there are many important but unanswered questions about
what happened on that terrible night.

TITLE SHOT: DIANA - SECRETS BEHIND THE CRASH

NICK PTC

Immediately after the accident things seemed reasonably straightforward. High on a cocktail of drink and drugs the driver lost control slamming the Mercedes into
the 13th concrete pillar inside this tunnel.

Amazingly though despite 9 months of investigation and the questioning of dozens of witnesses, there are now more questions than answers and the French judge in
charge seems no further forward.

In two days time he's calling many of the key witnesses back together again for what's called a confrontation - to try to make sense of it all.

COMM

For this is a story full of mystery. The police have still not found many who were there at the time. Witnesses talk of a mysterious flash in the tunnel and powerful
motorbikes leaving at high speed. And as we have discovered, the man at the wheel, Henri Paul, was leading an extraordinary double life. In public, he was Security
Manager at one of the world's most famous hotels, the Ritz in Paris. In private, he was a secret agent, in regular contact with the French and other intelligence
services.

FADE TO BLACK

COMM

The south of France. For generations, it's been the playground for the seriously rich and famous. And wherever they go, the paparazzi are never too far behind. Last
August, Diana took a second holiday here with Dodi Fayed, the playboy son of Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of Harrods. For the world's media, this new
romance was the only story that counted. She was easily the most famous and most photographed woman in the world. There had been a decent interval after her
divorce from Prince Charles - and the media pack could smell marriage in the air.

COMM

Her former lover, the cavalry, James Hewitt, now lives a quiet life in the west country. Despite the fuss over the book about their affair they had kept in touch.

[Caption: James Hewitt, former lover]

HEWITT V/O

I spoke to her about four months previous to that actually. She seemed to be happy in what she was doing

HEWITT SYNC

Q: Did she say anything about her private life?

A: She said - I said, you know, what are you going to do next and um, she said: 'Oh, I'm going to shock the world and um, I'm going to find a big black man and
marry him,' um, which was - you know showed through her sense of humour. She liked to tease and um, and to shock people in a - in a humourly way like that.

COMM 20"

COMM

Princess Diana always had a very ambivalent attitude towards the press, particularly the photographers. They were very useful when she wanted attention for her
activities like the land mines campaign or when she wanted to upstage her former husband. But by last summer - as her romance blossomed - things began to
change.

HEWITT SYNC

She always made it quite clear that she would like to marry and to settle down and have a - a family and try and lead a normal, quiet life.

[Caption: Mohammed Al Fayed]

MOHAMMED AL FAYED SYNC

She stayed with us for a couple of weeks in the South of France, she enjoyed her children, enjoyed the best holiday they can ever enjoy. She saw the normal,
ordinary people, life you know which is no formalities, no - you know, just the way you enjoy life in a normal family way. Close family way, which unfortunate she
never enjoyed during her life, during her parents, during her marriage, you know.

COMM

Their holiday over at the end of August, Diana and Dodi decided to go to Paris for an overnight stay before returning to London. But by the time they reached Le
Bourget, a private airport just outside Paris, the paparazzi were already waiting. Here - catching Diana and Trevor Rees Jones, Dodi and one of their drivers, Henri
Paul.

COMM

On the way in to Paris, there were two near misses. Both times, a paparazzi weaved in an and out of their convoy. Twice, Henri Paul - who was driving the back up
vehicle managed to swerve and avoid an accident. Diana was horrified and said she was worried that one of the paparazzi would get killed the way they were
behaving. At 3.45, Diana and Dodi arrived at the Windsor Villa, just on the outskirts of Paris.

ACTUALITY SYNC

Hello. It's Nicholas Owen from ITV.

Good morning

Morning

You're expected. Monsieur Martin is there at the main gate for you.

Thank you very much

COMM

Here, Diana and Dodi were greeted by Gregorio Martin, who has been the butler here most of his adult life.

ACTUALITY SYNC

Bonjour Monsieur. Comment allez vous?

Bonjour

Apres vous. Entrez. Voila.

COMM

The villa is the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - a previous refuge abroad for another glamorous and stylish woman who had married into the
Royal family - and like Princess Diana would never be Queen.

[Caption: Gregorio Martin, Butler]

MARTIN SYNC

Q: What about Dodi. Did he like this house?

A: Sure. He like it very much. It's a beautiful house. I tell you, this house in the summer always is beautiful. Particularly in the summer it's extraordinary.

MARTIN SYNC

Q: So you expected Dodi....

A: Yeah, sure

Q: And Diana to live in this house together?

A: Absolutely. Everything is ready for to come here. He prepare the house all ready. All is ready. We see this. If somebody and moves all the furniture and if
someone comes with a designer. You know when the new people come. It's clear.

Q: Do you remember the last day they came here very well?

A: Yeah Yeah Yeah Sure.

Q: Do you remember them coming? Do you remember what happened?

A: They came to visit everything. They go all round the house In the top until the basement, the kitchen the kennel for the dogs. Everything. The car. Yeah sure

MARTIN SYNC

Q: What did you think of them together? How did they seem together?

A: I think really they were a very beautiful couple.

MOHAMMED AL FAYED V/O

Dodi decided, you know, and she decided that this is the place she loved, she find that this is the place for her and a very secure place and it's just near London, she
will be at home.

MOHAMMED AL FAYED SYNC

and was just the right nest for them to continue their happiness and continue their life, but they're gone.

Q: You could imagine them living in that place?

A: Yeah. It was just the right place for them.

COMM

From the Windsor villa they went across Paris to the Ritz Hotel - also owned by Dodi's father, Mohammed Al-Fayed, where they checked into the Imperial Suite.

[Caption: 6.30 pm]

At 6.30 Dodi went across the square to pick up a ring for Diana.

After the excitement of the previous week in the south of France, there was no big money to be made by the paparazzi - unless - this was to be the night that a very
special announcement would come. Many close to Dodi - including his butler - were sure that this was to be the night.

[Caption: Pierre Pham Van Suu, Photographer]

SUU SYNC

With these people you can reach the top, you know, you can make records, records, or you can make nothing, so the answer is in between, meaning that it depends
on the type of picture that you would have been able to get. A picture inside the hotel is out of the question because we never go inside hotels, yeah, so it would have
to be outside, what are you gonna get outside? Even if they pose and they smile at us. you know. I'll tell you what the best picture would have been er, after dinner
Dodi offers - ask her to marry him, gives her a ring, comes out and she shows the ring, then you've got a picture.

COMM

And even if there was just the slightest chance of this picture, none of the photographers was going to leave early that night.

[Caption: 7 pm]

At seven o'clock Diana and Dodi left the Ritz and went to Dodi's apartment about 5 minutes away by car, at the top of the Champs Elysee. The growing army of
paparazzi was waiting for them when they arrived. After a struggle on the pavement outside, they got through here to this door. For

COMM

[Caption: 7.10 pm]

this is Dodi's apartment... We have been allowed to film inside - the first film crew here - It's the sumptuous flat that the son of the Harrods' billionaire hoped Diana
would share with him.

Relations with his powerful father were not always easy. Dodi had his own mark in the glamorous world of movie stars...a rich playboy, but one who'd enjoyed
some success commercially as a Hollywood film producer.

It is a home full of the possessions of a man born into the privilege of wealth...and conspicuous consumption - the high speed boat, the antique clock. At the chic end
of Paris, in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe...it's a place that should have been a haven from hostile outsiders. But outside the tranquillity of Dodi's luxury
apartment, that night the pressure was now building up.

[Caption: 9.30 pm]

At 9.30 they planned to eat at a fashionable restaurant but the throng of paparazzi and other hangers on made this impossible. They gave up and went to the Ritz to
eat.

MOHAMMED SYNC

They just don't only taking photographs but also they - you know they are pumping you, they stand in your way, there is motorcycles in front of you, it's just
devastating.

COMM

One of the paparazzi there that night was Pierre Suu, caught here hanging around outside the Spice Girls Hotel in Paris last month. Traveling on motorbikes and
scooters, these photographers are quick and mobile. Dodging in and out of the traffic, with high speed cameras and long lenses, they're every inch the modern urban
hunter.

SUU V/O

We jump off the motorcycle and we get in place to shoot them.

SUU SYNC

A few of us had time to take a picture through the window at that time and one or two frames and then the door opened, the Princess Diana exit before and Dodi
leave behind her, a few metres behind and they went into the hotel.

Q: How would you describe the way the Princess reacted to what you were doing?

S: Nothing special really you know. She kept her head straight and walked and didn't talk to us, didn't seem particularly annoyed or anything really.

COMM

But this video shot by the Ritz security cameras tells a very different story. On of the photographers is already inside the lobby. As they arrive at the front door a
second photographer steps in front of Diana and manages to take a picture before being grabbed and thrown out. A grim faced Diana then enters the hotel, followed
by the bodyguard Kez Wingfield, her boy friend, a few steps behind Dodi and Trevor Rees-Jones.

According to one of the bodyguards, she then sat down and burst in to tears.

[Caption 10.09 pm]

COMM

Shortly afterwards, Henri Paul, parks his Mini outside the Ritz. It’s just after 10 o'clock in Paris, 9 o'clock in London. Henri Paul, whose main job was acting Head
of Security at the Ritz had been called on his mobile and came back in to work. One mystery - still unresolved is where he was during the evening, having left work
just after 7 o’clock. Once inside, he drank two glasses of Ricard - an alcoholic aperitif - in the bar.

SUU SYNC

I saw some maid probably from the hotel through a first floor window, shutting down curtains, so we assumed that they were gonna have dinner at the first floor
which is the Imperial suite or something. So then we - we realized that er, we - we'll have to wait a couple of hours maybe.

COMM

Inside the Ritz, Diana and Dodi had dinner in the Imperial Suite.

MOHAMMED SYNC

They called me, say what's happening and then we're having dinner and after that going back to the apartment and we're coming back on Sunday and on Monday
they're gonna declare their engagement.

Q: Did Dodi tell you that? Did Diana tell you that?

A: Dodi told me that. Diana told me that. On Saturday evening. At ten o'clock. In the hotel.

Q: Did Diana speak to you in that conversation?

F: Yeah, yeah.

Q: Do you remember what she actually said to you?

F: She was completely full of happiness. Full of joy. At the end of the road you know she find someone she can feel, you know, fill her life and be happy, and er,
fulfill all her dreams which she lost and she missed for years. She find the family she can be - you know - related to.

COMM 15"

This amateur video captures the mood outside the Ritz that evening. Inside, Diana and Dodi decide to return to his apartment. According to Mohammed Al Fayed
his son rang him, in some anguish. By now, it's just after midnight.

MOHAMMED SYNC

I say just be careful. Er, don't take any decision because if you're happy in the hotel stay in the hotel. If you feel going out you can do it just - you know - er, it's all
up to you. I left it tto him to decide.

COMM 20"

But Dodi came up with a plan. A decoy vehicle would go to the front of the Ritz. Meanwhile they would escape by the back door. The Ritz security video shows
their black Mercedes - supplied by a local hire company - being brought round for them. But they never stood a chance.

SUU V/O

Princess Diana

SUU SYNC

tried to escape photographers as much as she can, you know, so therefore this is a natural thing to do, to go to check the back door, so that's why some
photographers went into the back, so both ways were secure so to speak.

COMM

19 minutes past 12. At the back of the Ritz, Diana and Dodi slip into the black Mercedes, Henri Paul takes over at the wheel. But the paparazzi monitor their every
move and alert each other on mobile phones. Even the crowd knew what was going on. On the tourist video you can hear what is happening. "They're chasing
Princess Diana!"

NICK OWEN SYNC -

This is where the journey began. The rear entrance to the Ritz there. The princess and Dodi joined Henri Paul the chauffeur and Trevor Rees-Jones, the bodyguard
and they set off down the rue Cambon, a narrow back street.

We're turning right.

COMM

Within a minute they were ambushed just round the corner at the Place de la Concorde. According to one key witness, who spoke to the police, there were many
paparazzi surrounding the car. One photographer on a motorbike was taking pictures of Diana and Dodi in the back of the Mercedes. At some lights, a car in front
held them back before they set off - at speed towards the tunnel.

NICK SYNC

This car. This is a Mercedes very similar to the sort that the Princess and the others were in, a really powerful machine. You just know it's itching to get going. You
feel invincible in it. Obviously very well built. I'm having difficulty holding it back to be absolutely honest.

NICK SYNC

There's a slip road on the right hand side about to come in and join us, just at the mouth of the tunnel. Anything coming out of there, you're really in difficulties. Then
you get this strange kick to the left, but even at this speed there's a bit of throwing over to the left and then to the right. You lurch across the road. If anything goes
wrong. Disaster.

MCKAY V/O

There's no protection in terms of any guard rail. Anybody who just deviates from the road only has to go a couple of feet on to the curb and you've got a solid
accident taking place.

[Caption: Professor Murray McKay, Car Crash Expert]

MCKAY SYNC

It's the classic case where a guard rail of some kind would turn a serious crash into a mere deflection.

MCKAY V/O

You should put up guard rails. It's not at all expensive. You could put it in for about 10 - 12 pounds per foot.

MCKAY SYNC

If there'd been a guard rail in this tunnel last August then nobody would have died at all.

COMM

Instead the Mercedes - with only one person - Trevor Rees-Jones, who would be the sole survivor - wearing a seat belt - hurtled into a tunnel, which was a death
trap.

MCKAY SYNC

The record for that tunnel is 13 deaths before this accident took place last August in the last dozen years or so

COMM

And even since the deaths last August nothing has been done to make the tunnel safe.

But that night two young people had a lucky escape. Souad Moufakkir and Mohammed Medjahdi were leaving the tunnel when they heard the Mercedes braking
heavily behind them.

[Caption: Mohammed Medjahdi]

MOHAMMED SYNC

I got the impression that the car was right behind us judging by what I could see in my rear-view mirror. So I accelerated so as to put some distance between us - to
get away - and avoid being hit.

[Caption: Souad Moufakkir]

SOUAD SYNC

The whole thing happened really quickly, really really quickly. I heard a car braking repeatedly, which is what made me turn round. And at that moment, that's when
I saw the car hit the pillar.

COMM

The investigating judge believes that as he approached the tunnel, Henri Paul saw a slow moving white Fiat Uno. He tried to get round it but clipped the side of the
car, lost control and skidded in to the thirteenth pillar. The Fiat Uno then drove away. But this is not the end of the story - rather the beginning of an extraordinary
mystery. For a start, that Fiat Uno has still not been found.

END OF PART ONE

RT: 20' 22"

*************************************************************

PART TWO

COMM

The Mercedes is one of the world's safest cars. It's extensively tested with full body rolls, computer simulations, and with head on collisions. This one is at just over
30 miles per hour. But that night, the Mercedes was going significantly faster.

COMM

Professor Murray McKay is one of the world's leading crash investigators, who's studied the Paris crash.

MCKAY V/O

I've been looking at crashes for 30 years

MCKAY SYNC

And from a knowledge of how vehicles do crush in experimental crashes and conditions where the speeds are measured, you can as it were calibrate this crash.

MCKAY V/O

and the way you work is to start at the end and we have the final position of the Mercedes pretty well defined. It finished about 15 feet away from the pillar having
spun off rotating anti-clockwise through 180 degrees and a bit more

MCKAY SYNC

That gives you an over the road speed - striking the pillar - of about 60 miles per hour

MCKAY V/O

That's like falling out of an 8 storey building and landing on cement.

MCKAY V/O

If you looked at 100 crashes you'd only find one or two that are at this sort of severity.

COMM

In fact there are two tunnels - about 200 metres apart - on the road from the Ritz to Dodi's apartment. Eric Lee, a chauffeur, was overtaken by the Mercedes as he
drove through the first of these two tunnels.

[Caption: Eric Lee, Chauffeur]

LEE SYNC

I had seen it coming up from quite a distance. And I would say it was traveling at more than 150 kilometres an hour.

COMM

By the time Henri Paul reached the second tunnel - the crash tunnel - he had slowed down a bit. But from the skid marks it is also possible to work out exactly what
speed he was driving at just seconds before the crash.

MCKAY SYNC

that gives you something of the order of 78, 80 miles an hour and that's a reasonably tight objective number. We're not having to rely on any eyewitnesses to reach
that sort of conclusion

COMM

But why was Henri Paul driving so fast? The paparazzi arrested immediately afterwards have all claimed to the judge that they could not keep up with the Mercedes
and were no where near when it passed through both tunnels. However, many eye witnesses disagree and describe - at different stages of the journey - a convoy,
with Henri Paul chased by cars and motorbikes.

Eric Lee followed the Mercedes as it sped towards the crash tunnel. In the distance he heard a huge explosion.

[Caption: Eric Lee, Eye witness]

LEE SYNC

I was going at more or less 40 miles an hour, I was still in the first tunnel when I heard the explosion and they had passed me before the entrance to the tunnel. The
time to drive along quietly, to come out at the exit to see the car took me a minute and half, two minutes

COMM

The paparazzi have always claimed they did not arrive until well after the crash. But Eric Lee is one of several key witnesses whose evidence flatly contradicts this,
putting them in the tunnel almost immediately afterwards. And this means that they must have been much closer to the Mercedes than they have admitted.

LEE SYNC

There were about 10 people down there. Maybe they weren't all photographers, I don't know. I know that as I went down four people came up, four young people,
they had been arguing, because as I was going down I could hear them arguing with the photographers. They were attacking the photographers for taking pictures.
They came up, I was going in the other direction, I went down, I passed between them, I went round and I found myself facing the woman who was inside, who
turned out to be Lady Di.

COMM

Diana and Trevor Rees-Jones were still alive. Though they were among the first on the scene, none of the paparazzi called for an ambulance.

SOUAD SYNC

I saw the driver in the front. He was in the front. His body was thrown forward and his body hit the steering wheel.

LEE SYNC

I still have this picture in my mind, it's terrible. There are three pictures that I always see: the face of bodyguard covered in blood, the face of the woman who opens
her eyes, then shuts them again, who seems to be suffering, and the white hand of driver through the wheel. It was terrible.

COMM

Henri Paul was dead. Even though the airbag inflated, his ribs, collar bone and right leg were broken and his neck was snapped. Though he died instantly, crucially
Diana was alive when a doctor, Frederick Maillez, giving a friend - Mark Butt - a lift home, arrived momentts after the crash.

[Caption: Dr Frederick Maillez]

MAILLEZ SYNC

A: The lady was still, er, breathing, but with difficulties, and, er, she needed some help. So, I ran back to my car to give, , a 'phone call to the emergency
services...and I went to my trunk to take the only equipment I had, which was, er, ... bag, you know, resuscitation mask, and I ran back to the wreckage to give
assistance to the victims

COMM

All around him, it was mayhem. One paparazzi told the police "You make me sick. I'm going back to Sarayevo. The police over there don't bother us and let us do
our work". Another complained "let me do my job" when a police officer pushed him out of the way to get to the victims.

[Caption: Mark Butt, Eye witness]

MARK BUTT SYNC

Some time they were going for a close shot, and back out, they were - but they did get - get rather close, that was the one thing that - that kind of bothered me, was
to see how close they had to get with a huge lens and get, you know, right - right on top, within - within fifty or sixty centimetres.

MAILLEZ SYNC

While I was inside the car, giving assistance to princess Diana I was aware of a lot of flashes, a lot of people taking a lot of pictures of myself and of Princess Diana
and of the inside of the car.

COMM 20"

Since the accident the police have raided the homes and offices - and even the parents' homes - of the paparazzi who were there. They have so far recovered only a
few dozen pictures. Yet that night hundreds were taken - and some are now being offered for sale.

LEE SYNC

What did I think?

I didn't try to work out why they were there, I thought to myself that they were opportunists who were taking pictures of an accident in the tunnel for the tabloids. I
don’t know.

NICK V/O

A lot of people are ready to believe there was some sort of conspiracy at work , some plot to kill Diana and Dodi by dark and sinister forces.

PTC

Surely the answer is it's too far fetched, too complex to organize - how could anyone ensure the Fiat Uno was in place, how could any one know the route Henri
Paul would take, how could anyone engineer such a horrific crash.

There is another sequence of events - described by some witnesses, which does raise disturbing new questions about happened in the tunnel. One of those witnesses
is Francois Levistre, on his way home late at night.

LEVISTRE SYNC

When I drove down here in my car, I was doing 70 miles an hour. I looked back in my rear view mirror and saw head lights just like you see now.

COMM

Driving a Ford Ka, - he says he saw another car and then the black Mercedes behind him traveling at some speed, with a motorbike alongside.

[Caption: Francois Levistre, Eye witness]

LEVISTRE SYNC

I'm in the middle of the tunnel, I can see the head-lights approaching, you can see the head-lights because it's dark, it’s night time.

LEVISTRE V/O

you could see the head-lights of the car coming with the motorbike head-lights because you can distinguish between the head-lights of a motorbike and those of a
car, and the motorbike was driving along side the car, well now we can say that it's a Mercedes. Well, anyway, the motorbike when it enters...when the Mercedes
comes, it drives over the crown of the road to enter the tunnel.

LEVISTRE SYNC

At that moment, the Mercedes...the motorbike... accelerates and you can see the acceleration of the motorbike because you can see the head-light rise up a bit. The
bike is accelerating. I am halfway through the tunnel, inside, when the motorbike accelerates, cuts the Mercedes up

COMM

The police have not identified this fast moving motorbike, even though many witnesses have described it, some in considerable detail. Eric Lee remembers it as it
passed him in the first tunnel.

LEE SYNC

as we were going down, a Mercedes turned up behind me flashing its lights at me, so I moved back over to let it pass and the car went past me very, very fast.
Very, very fast, I can still remember the sound it made, and it was followed by a motorbike ten metres or so behind.

COMM

This motorbike is crucial because of what Francois Levistre says he saw as it drew alongside the Mercedes in the tunnel.

LEVISTRE SYNC

At that moment there's a big white flash

CUT TO FLASH

LEVISTRE SYNC

A massive white light I'm looking in the rear-view mirror, and it's then - at that moment- that I see the motorbike, and I think to myself, well I think lots of things...I
think why the cutting up, why did the motorbike cut them up

Q: The flash, was this flash like a photo flash?

A: No, it was stronger than a photo flash, or else it was a massive photo flash. It was a big white light like this one.

Q: Like lightening?

A: Yes, yes, but quick, and it's then, when you're in the tunnel and on top of that in the dark, you can see, you're forced to...it's like a radar speed trap, a radar
because I've been asked whether it could be a radar speed trap, it's not a radar speed trap, but it was a big radar flash, it's then that I see that once the
flash...happens...the Mercedes goes left, right, left.

COMM

Initially, Francois Levistre was dismissed by the French police but in fact we have established that - last month - he was called in by the judge to give his account of
events.

But many other witnesses have also described the motorbike and some have also described this very bright flash in the tunnel. So we set up an experiment for
Francois Levistre.

ACTUALITY SYNC

Now Monsieur Levistre, there will be two flashes behind you here. The distance I think will be just about the distance you say when there was a flash in the tunnel
that night. So if you look out carefully here.

A: No

Q: And now wait, we should see another one. If you look in your mirror

A: Yeah. That second one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That second one.

Q: The second one is the sort of flash you saw in the tunnel that night.

A: Yes that that night.

Q: You're absolutely sure?

A: Sure Sure.

NICK PTC

So what was that blinding light, Monsieur Levistre claims he saw in the tunnel. In the demonstration you've just seen, the first flash was from a paparazzi camera. But
Monsieur Levistre identified the much bigger flash, the second one and that came from this piece of kit.

Now this is an anti personnel device - quite legal to buy in the UK - and it sets off one enormously powerful flash of light. Shine this in somebody's eyes and they are
stunned, blinded, disabled for several minutes. If you're driving a car when it happens, you'll almost certainly crash.

COMM

We bought our anti personnel flash light in the west end of London for just over £260. But there's another version of this piece of kit. It's not available to the public.
It's infinitely more powerful and it's used by army special forces - including the British - around the world.

END OF PART TWO

RT: 12'57"

PART THREE

COMM 30"

Seven paparazzi were arrested immediately afterwards and that night the police investigation began. The focus was on the driver, Henri Paul. Almost immediately it
was announced that he was more than three times over the French alcohol limit.

But the pathologists also discovered something else, something very mysterious the details of which - until now - were kept secret.

When he died, he had an unusually high level of carbon monoxide in his blood. Carbon monoxide can kill - but even in lower doses it has profound effects.

DEBBIE DAVIS

There is an overwhelming feeling of doom. Your body is screaming.

COMM

Debbie Davis suffered from chronic carbon monoxide poisoning before her condition - caused by a leaky gas fire - was finally diagnosed. Today she runs a support
group from her home for fellow sufferers.

[Caption: Debbie Davis, Carbon Monoxide Support Group]

DEBBIE DAVIS SYNC

Your senses are all to pot, your brain is deprived of oxygen, it cannot function properly. You can't judge distance, you can't judge time.

COMM

In Henri Paul's case the carbon monoxide level in his blood - at the time he died - was just over 20%.

[Caption: Dr Alastair Hay]

HAY SYNC

Once you've got a certain level in the blood, that, then, if you stop the exposure, that level then decreases, and the rate at which it falls is about, er, half every four to
five hours. So, in other words, if it was 40%, four to five hours later, it would be 20%. So, the level that was measured in Henri Paul at the time that he died, would
indicate that, say, some two hours prior to his death, he might have had a level of 30%.

COMM

Dodi's blood sample showed no carbon monoxide, which means that Henri Paul could not have been poisoned in the Mercedes. So the logic must be that he was
poisoned earlier - but that only deepens the mystery, because here's Henri Paul - two hours before his death - walking down the steps in the Ritz, without any
problem. If the blood test was reliable he would have had 30% carbon monoxide poisoning at this time - yet he has none of the tell tale symptoms.

HAY V/O

If you've got a level of about 30%, someone would have a decided headache. He would have real throbbing in the temples. Erm, the

headache would be unmistakable. There would be certainly a, er, a lack of co-ordination.

DEBBIE SYNC

D: He - he - he wouldn't know his left hand from his right.

HAY V/O

It doesn't strike me, when you look at the pictures of Henri Paul, of a man who is really suffering. It doesn't look as if he's got a headache, he's not massaging his
temples to try and reduce the pain in any way. He seems to be someone who is quite relaxed in his environment, in control, he's talking to people, giving orders. He's
affable, with people that he comes into contact with, smiles at what I assume are guests, and so on. It seems to be somebody who is fairly relaxed, and certainly not
in any pain.

COMM

And carbon monoxide is not the only mystery about his blood sample.. I took the Ritz security video - which charts Henri Paul over the two hours before the crash -
to a behavioural psychologist to see if he could spot the tell tale signs of heavy drinking. If the blood test is to be believed, Henri Paul should have been ill, visibly ill.
And he should also have been showing signs of being drunk, having consumed the equivalent of 8 scotches on an empty stomach.

[Caption: Dr Martin Skinner, Behavioural Psychologist]

SKINNER SYNC

Do you think Henri Paul was drunk?

SKINNER V/O

M: Well I don't think there's evidence from the video

SKINNER SYNC

that can suggest he looks drunk. You wouldn't look at that not knowing what had happened and say goodness me, that's a drunk person we're looking at.

SKINNER V/O

The - the pictures of him walking up and down the corridor are straight and smooth, he's standing very still.

SKINNER SYNC

there's nothing in his demeanour to - from - from these videos, to suggest that, er, there were any problems with his competence to deal with the situation.

COMM (Pause)

Of course if Henri Paul was a secret and heavy drinker then he would have a high tolerance and might therefore be able to hide his state. But his post mortem shows
that his liver was in good condition and did not have any signs of alcohol abuse or heavy drinking. But it's when you put the two together - carbon monoxide and
alcohol - that the mystery deepens further.

HAY SYNC

Q: So it's a complicated and rather strange picture. Do you have a concluding thought when you're presented with this problem? What do you think of what you've
heard?

H: (sighs) I - I find it difficult to rationalise everything. I certainly think, with a blood-carbon monoxide level of 20%, which was determined in his blood, and a
blood-alcohol level of about 180 milligrams per 100 mil., that this would be someone who would have a much slower reaction time, it would certainly be someone
who would be slowed up in the way they did things, and would probably also be somebody who was in some pain. But, none of those seemed to be evident from
the pictures that we see of him. So, it is a bit of an enigma.

COMM 15"

It's impossible to overstate the significance of that blood sample. From the very start, it's defined our views of Henri Paul and virtually all our thinking about the crash
- until now. But what if it is not as reliable as we first thought?

PTC OUTSIDE HENRI PAUL'S FLAT

The more I learn about this story, the less clear it becomes. The blood sample seems - well - suspect and the paparazzi were obviously much closer than they have
admitted. Much in this story is contradictory and nowhere is this more true than with Henri Paul, who lived here, up in apartment on the third floor.

GARREC V/O

I have known him for 21 years.

GARREC SYNC

He was a witness at my wedding.

[Caption: Leonard Amico, Friend]

AMICO SYNC

He was kind of a jolly person and would communicate with everyone, talk with everyone, just chat away.

[Caption: Claude Garrec, Henri Paul's best friend]

GARREC SYNC

He was very bright. He was the sort of friend everyone wishes for. He was very well read, very musical. He played the piano, the violin.

GARREC V/O

There's not one day that I don't think of him. I also have to go the street where he lived...

GARREC SYNC

it's permanent...I still live in the same area and I go to the same restaurants...so...it's hard.

COMM

Henri Paul was also a keen pilot. Just two days before the accident he completed a rigorous medical to renew his flying licence. The medical found no signs of
alcoholism. For him, flying wasn't just a hobby. His flight logs show he was a regular flier and he'd taken courses for flying at night. And in all he had completed 605
hours flying time.

[Caption: George Bielek, Flying Instructor]

BIELEK SYNC

he was a good man. Now, we never had problem with, with him and - he was a very serious and a quiet and er, he, he make you, his job very good in, in, in er, in
flight.

BIELEK V/O

he was a good private pilot, serious, and er, he, he's looking for progressing each time.

COMM

But flying is not a cheap sport.

BIELEK SYNC

A one hour flight cost three hundred pound, about, on these aircraft.

Q: So Henri Paul would have had to have paid three hundred pounds an hour.

A: Yes. He paid it - for that.

AMICO SYNC

Q: Did you get the impression that he was a wealthy man?

A: Not really, no. I thought - I had the impression, it's just an impression, that he certainly didn't have any financial problems. Wealthy? I did-, I didn't think wealthy,
no. But not poor either. Comfortable.

COMM

Henri Paul's salary at the Ritz was around 20,000 pounds a year - and from talking to his friends he sounds like the sort of man who spent his salary every month.
But we've discovered that actually he was much better off than he appeared.

NICK PTC

Whatever one says about Henri Paul, one thing is clear. This was a man with some very big secrets, indeed. Apart from 2 accounts in a bank outside Paris, he also
had 3 accounts and a safety deposit box here at the BNP in the Place Vendome, just opposite the Ritz. He also had another 3 bank accounts here at Barclays on the
avenue de l'Opera - just a short walk from the Ritz. But that's not all. He also had one current and 4 deposit accounts here at the Caisse d'Epargne, just near the
Louvre. In the 8 months before the crash, 40,000 francs - that's about £4,000 was paid in to an account here - on five separate occasions, each time in cash.

In all Henri Paul had just over 1.2 million francs in the bank - that's about £122,000. And no one can say where it came from.

COMM

The Ritz Hotel is adamant that the money - the cash - did not come from them. So where could it have come from? I thought it would be a good idea to go back and
talk to his best friend, Claude Garrec, who revealed an extraordinary secret about Henri Paul.

SYNC GARREC

All I can tell you is that he had contacts within the French and foreign intelligence services. That's all I know.

Do you know what he used to do for these services? What was he doing for them?

I've no idea, he was very discreet, regarding his work.

COMM

A former member of French intelligence has suggested to us that the security managers of major hotels are prime targets for recruitment - and the Ritz, with its
glittering guest list of the rich and powerful would be of more interest than many.

MOHAMMED AL FAYED SYNC

Q: We also know that Henri Paul was in touch with intelligence services.

A: It would be very sad to know that.

Q: Do you think it is very suspicious that he was in touch with intelligence services?

A: Everything is possible.

SYNC GARREC

During all the time that you knew him?

Yes I think it was during the entire period when he worked for the Ritz i.e. 11 years. I think that he maintained his contacts during all that time.

MOHAMMED AL FAYED SYNC

That guy been there working there ...Haven't shown any doubt on his loyalty, his commitment, but you don't know. People can face you with a lot of decency in their
characters and behind the scene you don't know what. Life is funny.

COMM

But the big question is whether any of the world's intelligence services - or the freelance agents they employ - would go so far as to kill the Princess of Wales and her
boyfriend Dodi Fayed. She had certainly made some very powerful enemies and for conspiracy theorists, there are clues in her earlier life. Her former lover, James
Hewitt says that after three years, Buckingham Palace decided that his love affair with Diana should stop. Then came some alarming phone calls.

HEWITT SYNC

the telephone calls were anonymous but left me in no doubt that um, that they knew what the situation was and um

Q: Were they threatening?

A: Yes, they were um, in as much as they said that it was not conducive to my health to continue the relationship

COMM

James Hewitt says he also received warnings from Diana's police personal protection officers and members of the Royal Household. He says that he even had a
conversation with a member of the royal family.

HEWITT SYNC

Q: Just describe to me roughly how the conversation went.

A: Um, similar words. Um, words to the effect that, you know, your relationship is known about, um, it is not supported, um, we cannot be responsible for your
safety or security um, and suggest that you curtail it.

Q: That sort of thing

A: Forthwith.

Q: That sort of thing was said to you by at least one member of the Royal Family?

A: By a member of the Royal Family. Not immediate member, but yes.

Q: And who was that?

A: I am not prepared to say.

MOHAMMED SYNC

Losing a son and losing a dear friend, you see a mother just gone and left two sons and know those two sons how much love they have for her. You can't just say
okay, that's it. That's God wish. Is not natural, is not way - the way I have to take things, you know, the way you say that's okay. That's God wish but you want to
be sure that it's God wish, not other people's wishes.

HEWITT SYNC

Do you think it possible that there would be those who would wish ill of the Princess of Wales, enough to sort of do something really terrible to her?

A: Um, yes, I do think there are people like that. Um, I've encountered people who would wish ill other people for - for very dubious reasons. Um, and
unfortunately I think that's reality.

Q: The threats that you'd received some years before, did they come back into your mind when you heard about the crash in Paris?

A: Um, yes, they did.

MOHAMMED SYNC

I'm a great believe in God and if it is not God wish for those two wonderful people to go, God will give hell if this is not God wish that it is an accident. And I'm not
gonna rest until I get the truth. If it's an accident or a murder.

MOHAMMED V/O

it's just unbelievable for such two wonderful young people just lose their life this way. It's just devastating.

NICK END PTC

Diana's violent end shook and saddened millions. A drunk driver, losing control seemed to make sense - just about - of the senseless.

We've discovered though so much more was going on...the very odd things about the high speed smash....Henri Paul's double life...the carbon monoxide said to be
in the blood...that missing car, that Fiat Uno.

So many mysteries. But if talk of a conspiracy to kill the Princess of Wales is ever to be silenced, it must be right that more efforts are made to tie up the loose ends,
to make sense of the senseless.

ends

FINAL SCRIPT : Copyright Fulcrum Productions Limited June 1998
 

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