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