Close-up shots of dying Diana shown

Close-up shots of Princess Diana, taken as she lay dying following the Paris crash, have been shown to the jury at her inquest.The 17 paparazzi photographs were pixellated, but her distinctive blonde hair and side of her face could be made out inside the Mercedes which crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel on August 31, 2007.The series of pictures - taken from negatives seized by police from paparazzi Serge Benhamou, Jacques Langevin, Fabrice Chassery, Laslo Veres and Romuald Rat - showed Dr Frederic Mailliez tending to the Princess at the scene.One shot by Mr Veres appeared to show Diana on the floor of the back seat of the car, with one leg raised. Another captured Mr Rat squatting down next to the open door of the car, moments after the crash.Michael Mansfield QC, lawyer for Mohamed al Fayed whose son Dodi was killed alongside the Princess, said the paparazzi had "no compunction" about taking images of the victims.Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker declared the photos would not be released into the public domain.Several pictures showed emergency workers carrying an unidentified pixellated slumped figure away from vehicleMr Mansfield said: "It is perfectly clear from the photographs the jury has been through that the paparazzi who were present at the scene of the crash had no compunction about taking photographs of the victims both inside the car and being carried outside the car."Mr Carpenter replied: "None whatsoever."Mr Carpenter told the jury about a photo taken by Mr Chassery showing Dr Mailliez leaning over a digitally-obscured figure: "The pixellated images are of the Princess of Wales and that's what he was photographing."Passing motorists who stopped were seen around the car trying to help, as were fire officers in their red fluorescent jackets.The jury also saw pictures of Diana and Dodi leaving the Ritz Hotel from the rear exit ahead of their ill-fated final journey. They were taken by the handful of snappers waiting for them at the back.Mr Mansfield questioned whether there were any photographs of the car journey itself.Mr Carpenter replied: "There are none - either in the dossier or held by us that show the journey from the rear of the Ritz to the underpass."It emerged that up to 400 pictures were taken in front of the Ritz and earlier in the day outside Dodi's apartment.Earlier, the jury heard evidence from a man who was in the tunnel on the fateful night.David Laurent was taking his fiancée and her family on a late-night sightseeing tour when they passed through the tunnel in the early hours of August 31 1997.He said he had to swerve to avoid a car travelling slowly into the Paris tunnel seconds before the crash which killed Diana.Mr Laurent described seeing a "light-coloured hatchback", while his girlfriend Nathalie Blanchard recalled seeing a car "something like an Austin Mini or a Fiat Uno" as they drove into the tunnel.In evidence read out at the High Court, the jury was told the couple heard the blast of a horn, screeching and a loud crash as they were driving out the other end.Statements from Mr Laurent and members of the family said he drove on after hearing the crash, thinking it was not serious.He told police that he was driving into the tunnel on the Seine embankment when "all of a sudden, at the entrance to the tunnel, I came upon a car that was driving slowly in the right-hand lane."I was taken by surprise but, even so, I had time to pull the steering wheel to the left to avoid it."He told France's Judicial Police - who were investigating the behaviour of the paparazzi in relation to the crash - that he was doing between 43 mph to 50mph while the other car was moving at just 18mph to 25mph.He drove on and overtook a second car, which he said was doing 31mph to 37mph in the tunnel.But as he was leaving the underpass, he heard the sound of hooting for about two seconds, then braking for two to three seconds, followed by a loud crash.His fiancee told police: "I heard several noises, a fairly long burst from a horn, a squealing of tyres and a crash of metal."I turned around, I think I was the only person who did. I couldn't see anything, neither a crashed car nor a small car."The family drove on, unable to see the wreckage, and it was only when they were at the Eiffel Tower some minutes later that they saw emergency services vehicles and made the connection.It was not until the next day that they knew it had been the car carrying Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed, who both died along with their driver Henri Paul.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | October 11, 2007

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