24/10/2007

Paparazzi In Focus At Diana Inquest

Evidence has been given at the Princess Diana Inquest that shames the paparazzi.

It was reported that when one of them arrived at the wreckage of Diana, Princess of Wales' Mercedes minutes after it crashed shouted "she's dead, hurry up", her inquest has heard.

Frenchman Yannick Chenna was driving through the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris with his girlfriend when he came across the crash on the opposite carriageway.

As he got out of his car to see if he could help, several scooters were pulling up next to the Mercedes, he told the inquest at the High Court in London.

One of the riders stopped in front of the Princess's mangled car and remained on his machine, but there were also three people on foot around the vehicle, he said.

In statement Mr Chenna said: "One of them was calling someone on his mobile phone. It was a brief conversation, about one or two minutes. I could not hear what the person said.

"The person on the scooter, still behind the handlebars, was located a distance of about 10 metres in front of the vehicle and was watching. Then suddenly that person left and one person ran after the scooter, shouting, 'she's dead, hurry up'."

Mr Chenna was shown a series of photographs of paparazzi at the scene on the night of the crash.

The witness was not sure who the man who left on the scooter was, but indicated he could possibly be Serge Benhamou.

He also picked out Romuald Rat as the man who shouted after the scooter, saying he was "quite sure" he was the one who opened the door of the Mercedes.

Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed were killed along with their driver Henri Paul following the crash in Paris on August 31 1997.

(BMcC)


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